The lead is in 25 lb bags od "shot" just like what you'd fill a shotgun cartridge with. 48 of them. Installing it is gonna be fun. When the boat was built it is my understanding that the ballast was installed from the top of the keel cavity and then resin allowed to soak down through it. One thing that I noticed when removing the ballast is that there were large areas where the ballast was not resin soaked. I was able to just scoop out the punchings. I'm sure that this wasn't really a problem 'cause the cavity was filled right to the top so there wasn't any issue of the ballast being able to move around. I suspect that when the resin was poured over the ballast it found certain paths to travel through it and dispersed itself out as good as it could, but the punchings were packed pretty solid, so there were areas where the resin didn't go. Why does this mater? Well, I'm not sure if it does BUT....I won't be filling the entire void in the cavity with ballast. The lead is much denser than the steel so I expect some space left at the top of the cavity after its all in. Because of that I really want to try to make it as much of a single "mass" as possible. I really don't want to cut throught the floor of the cabin if I dont have to. So here's my plan.
I plan to layer the ballast in in 2-3inch layers at a time and soak them in polyester resin. I usually use West System epoxy for everything. This application , however, is just to glue the shot together and is going to take a fair amount of resin. Epxoy runs close to $115/gallon. Polyester is only $23. I will build a "dam" along the bottom edge of the holes in the keel that will be above the level that I am going to install the lead. Then I am going to lay in a 2-3 inch layer and then resin soak it. I'll let that resin kick into the gel state before I go for the next "dam", layer, and resin soak. I am hoping that that will also allow the resin to dissapate some of the heat it will be generating as it cures. I'm anticipating the difficulty to increase as the levels get higher just due to being pinched between the top of the dam and the bottom of the hull for work space. I think I make a long funnel arrangement to pour the shot and resin in with, but we'll have to see how it works out as it goes along. Certainly there will be some amount of additional space left above the lead ballast. Do I just leave it empty? I don't know. I could fill it with 2 part expanding foam but that stuff is a sponge if water ever gets in there. Anyone got any ideas on that? Right now I'm leaning towards just leaving it empty. I guess that bridge is still a ways down the road. I've still got some work to do before installing the lead. I'm going to run a test by pouring colored water into the bilge and see if any makes it down into the keel from above. Also there's some glasswork I want to do to the bottom of the keel slot. Actually its probably a good thing 'cause all the while the boat and keel will continue to breathe the 10% humidity, Arizona, 80 degree air. That can't be a bad thing. I just keep telling myself "take your time and do it right.........................then I say San Juans! San Juans! San Juans are slipping away!!!" hahaha. I'll post pics on the site as progress is made. Other projects such as the swing keel refurb, rudder repair, and bottom job are all continuing to make progress as well. _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
