Greetings, I wanted to give an update on the keel wobble on our 25 MKII. It took a while for us to get our ducks and the weather in a row, but it gave us time to do a lot of reading and research following the leads provided through the list. As our next step in investigating the keel wobble, we tightened the bolts and checked the keel with the boat in slings. Torquing the bolts went smoothly using a torque wrench, torque multiplier and an extra deep socket. Before tightening, we backed them up a little, and they all budged with between 100 - 150 ft/lbs of torque on the wrench. We were able to torque the keel bolts to 350 ft/lbs, and there was no indication of the bolt spinning or washers digging into the glass.
We then had the boat lifted in slings, and the keel continued to flex with a moderate push with a foot. At this point, I noticed that the flex wasn't between the keel and the hull (that was encouraging!), but it was the entire hull flexing. I then climbed aboard and asked the very accommodating marina manager to wiggle the keel, which he did with vigor. The entire bottom of the bilge visibly flexed. Interestingly to me, the keel bolts didn't appear to move relative to the rest of the hull, everything was in it together. The hull/keel joint actually seems pretty solid, so I am glad that we took this step before dropping the keel. The hull flexing is something we should have caught right away, but we looked right past it because we assumed it was the hull/keel joint. Even if the hull/keel joint is off the hook for the wobble, from past discussions on this list and elsewhere, I suspect this is not a good finding. We have seen cases where people have made significant and impressive structural repairs, many of which have been referenced here on the list, to increase rigidity. The both of us carefully inspected the bilge area for signs of cracking or separation, and we have not identified anything obvious (untrained eyes). Thus, we would not know what to fix were we to go that route. The marina manager is similarly at a loss. I'm also not comfortable not knowing why the hull is visibly flexing. At the same time, several sailors at the marina suggested that she's probably fine and we should just go sailing and keep an eye on it. As tempting as that is, that's beyond our comfort zone. So, that's the general outcome of the wobbly keel investigation. I do have a question: Is this a repair that a reasonable person would be able to take on? I'm not sure that person would be me, but I do not want to scrap a boat that someone could make good use of. Afterall, she has been an incredible boat for us and is undeniably an adorable 25' C&C. Many thanks, Stephen >>>> >>>> >>>> On Sun, Jan 2, 2022 at 3:32 PM Stephen Kidd via CnC-List < >>>> cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: >>>> >>> Happy New Year! We're hoping to get some insights on an issue we are >>>> having with our keel. We recently had our 25 MKII hauled for some winter >>>> projects and were surprised to see that the keel "wiggled" when the boat >>>> was on the travel lift, a little bit laterally. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> I've uploaded some photos of the keel and the keel bolts >>>> <https://photos.app.goo.gl/TVsmhMAwwJUQEEee8>. Here are some >>>> observations: >>>> >>>> 1) No signs of weeping from the keel joint and no visible separation >>>> when lifted from the stands. >>>> >>>> 2) None of the keel bolts (3 in total) leak. >>>> >>>> 3) Crack at the aft end doesn't look typical of the C&C smile based on >>>> internet searches. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Should we torque the keel bolts, grind out the crack, fill (G-flex?), >>>> fair, and paint, or is this beyond a "smile" fix? >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Thanks! >>>> >>>> Stephen >>>> >>>> >>>>
Please trim your messages before sending to the list. Thankx
