Jim,
One correction… The hole for the
threaded rod goes 4 inches into the lead before cross drilling. I saw the 4’
notation too but if you look at the general condition of the drawing it’s
easy to accept a 4” could have become 4’.
It’s not so easy on a boat with only
a 4 feet of draft to start drilling lead more than a foot below the waterline
and go for 4 more feet.
Phil Agur s/v Wing Tip
Commodore, Call Sign WCW3485
IC27/270A
MMSI 366901790
www.catalina27.org
Vessel Doc# 1039809
-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, July 18, 2006 5:04 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: catalina27-talk:
Doing the Keel right and other issues.
Debbie
Gillis wrote:
>
> My keel (# 47) has rusted out the
orginal bolts, had those
> replaced, and just about finished rusting
that set out. In looking
> at the Catalina Direct "solution" I
am just not happy with bolts
> that are going to rust out in another 10-15
years. Has anybody
> placed large diameter s/s rods through the
keel and placed nuts on
> the bottom, nuts on the top then fared the
keel? I plan on glassing
> the bilge, and then placing my stainless
steel washers and nuts on
> top so you can drop the keel in an
extreme shoaling emergency.
> Now going from the very bottom to the top,
does anyone have a roller
> furling main? Is there any manufacturer who
will work with us on this?
> Is there anyone out there who has a wheel
steering that they want to sell?
> This is just the beginning as I
"update" a good old boat. They say
> love is blind.
>
Debbie,
One of the options from Catalina was to use 1/2"-13 Stainless Steel
rods and nuts inside the keel. You drilled down 4 feet (I think) into the
keel from the bilge, and then drilled in from the side to meet the first hole.
You used the side hole to place a nut (actually a 1-1/2" diameter
rod that had been drilled and tapped for 1/2-13 on its side) in the keel, then
dropped the 4 foot rod down to it. Tightened everything up, patched the
hole in the side of the keel and slap some anti-fouling paint on it. Drilling
4 feet into the lead keel wasn't easy, I think some people reported about one
hole a day, and then drilling in from the side depended on having the first
hole very vertical. So that's why Catalina went to Lag bolts, something
that looks like a wood screw, that takes a nut and washer.
http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=1072
To help distribute the load on the keel stub(the fiberglass area that
the keel attaches to) sometime small stainless steel plates were uses under the
washer. Whiskey Girl, a 73 model, has had the nuts and washers replaced
with stainless steel or maybe Monel to the original bolts, and a couple of lag
bolts added at the forward end of the keel, but the main keel bolts are still
the original threaded rod that the lead was cast around. I have a GIF
file of an unnumbered Catalina Drawing dated 4-27-84 which shows both types of
installation. I got it off of Judy B's Bijou website:
http://www.blumhorst.com/catalina27/images/keel_factory_drawings/
which has some other factory drawings that may be of interest.
If you haven't seen them, search at
http://bbs.trailersailor.com/search.html in the Catalina 27 Archives, use the
search words "keel bolts". Lots of posts, pictures and tales
of lessons learned the hard way.
Jim, "Whiskey
Girl"
1973 C-27
Dana Point,
CA
