Mike, I thought I'd write to give you an update on my SS Lag Screw progress. I put in 3 screws — which I got from the source you suggested. I tried to drill the holes with a bit I bought at Lowes. It broke about an inch below the surface of the bilge, leaving the fluted portion embedded in the hole. I filled it with epoxy and started anew a couple of inches aft. I went online to shop for a higher quality bit than I could get at local hardware stores, which I found at HermansCentral.com: 18" w/extra long flutes. The longer flutes, and lots of cutting oil, really made a huge difference in drilling. As fate would have it, that bit also broke where the flutes met the straight shaft. Fortunately, the hole was deep enough and the break was well above the bilge floor so I was able to extract it. I took the advice of another listee and drilled the top 3" at 1/2" rather than 3/8" to accommodate the shaft portion of the lag screw. Using a torque wrench and gooping on Tef-Gel, I got the screws sunk in about 40 minutes each — taking little rest stops along the way. Cost: 4 SS screws and washers (used 3) 11.66 ea; total w/shipping — 46.85 Drill bit 13.00; shipping, more than the bit; total — 26.15 Cutting oil (still have half a bottle) — 8.99 So the grand total outlay (I already had Tef-Gel) was $82; a lot less than the $280 that Catalina Direct wanted. Thanks for your counsel.
Fair Winds, Jim Calleran, C27 #2784, Trad, OB Mathews Yacht Club, VA 37°27.8'N/76°18.6'W --- On Mon, 6/23/08, Mike Provost <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: Mike Provost <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: catalina27-talk: Keel bolts To: [email protected] Date: Monday, June 23, 2008, 11:25 AM I installed a single lag screw in mine....as a precautionary measure. Here is a site where you can get 316 8" SS lag screws. http://www.manasquanfasteners.com/lag_screws_1_2 You'll also need a long 3/8 drill bit...the drilling is easy...just be sure to drill a perpendicular hole and periodically withdraw the bit to clean the hole of debris. You should also use tef-gel to coat the lag screw to prevent dissimilar metal reaction between the lead and the SS. Oh, by the way, are you sure you have a lead keel....it could be iron in which case a lag screw won't work. I think many of the older c27's had iron ballast. I tested mine by running a large magnet along the side of the keel when it was on the hard....of course lead is not magnetic. As for driving the screw...it's very slow going.....and the hole needs to re-drilled often to clear out the debris created by the screw as the threads strip away the lead. I'd estimate it took me almost 2 hours for one screw. I actually took a non-SS screw of the same size and filed the tip of it to create a sharp self-taping edge and that helped significantly but it was still slow going. Mike Provost _/) ----- Original Message ----- From: James Calleran To: [email protected] Sent: Monday, June 23, 2008 10:55 AM Subject: catalina27-talk: Keel bolts Listees, After a, ahem, hard grounding, my Catalina smile has reappeared (last seen 6-7 years ago) — not badly, but a thin line at the keel joint is visible on one side. The boatyard service manager has recommended re-torque-ing the keel bolts. Naturally, the yard will do the job for a fee, though I don't have a quote. I'm concerned about these 30 yr-old bolts breaking off under 60+ ft-lbs of torque. Any of you who have done this yourselves: 1. How did you clean off the accumulated rust (They were rusty, right)? 2. Were you able to budge the nuts? 3. Did you remove them —one at a time, of course — and clean the threads? 4. Did you replace with stainless nuts? 5. What torque? For those who have installed SS Lag Bolts in your keel. 1. Did you buy the $279.95 kit from Catalina Direct? (5 bolts, 1 drill bit, washers) 2. What size is the drill bit? 3. Did drilling require a rotary hammer type drill, or just a powerful standard drill? I have source of SS 1/2" x 8" SS lag bolts @ 14.95 each. Specs say 18-8 stainless; no mention of 316. Thoughts on using these? Thanks for comments on your experience. Fair Winds, Jim Calleran, C27 #2784, Trad, OB Mathews Yacht Club, VA 37°27.8'N/76°18.6'W
