Page published: 6 July 2006
Keel Bolt
The pictures here, of Core'ngrato undergoing an overhaul of the keel, were supplied by Graham Richards, her owner.
Once it had been relaunched he posted the "highlights" to the old mail list (Now replaced by The Forum:
- The keel raises and lowers with amazing ease.
- There are no leaks from the pivot bolt.
- The keel is rust free
(Coated with 5 coats epoxy primer & 2 coats Trilux hard antifouling) - Weighs 66lb.
- 14" wire strop fitted.
- Used a new bolt and locknut from agricultural supplier.
A4 Stainless bolt hard to find with right shank length. 30 years on the first bolt - its lasted well, so why bother with stainless. - Used Sikaflex sealant between the bolt reinforcing plates and fibreglass.
- Coated the bolt in lots of sticky anti-corrossion grease. (Marine product)
- Torqued it till the fibreglass started to creak.
Graham summarised the lessons learnt in tackling the job:
- Get the plate shot-blasted to remove all traces of rust.
- Apply Interprotect 2 pack epoxy straight onto a truly rust free keel with no intermediary anti-rust products.
- Allow 5 hours between each of the 5 coats.
- Grind a taper on the old bolt and use this as an alignment tool when fitting the new bolt.
Providing some further detail he wrote:
I used a rust breaker and angle grinder with soft 40/80 grit pads that did not get all the rust out of the wasted indentations in the keel so I used KuRust, the rust convertor product. I'm not convinced the 5 coats of Interprotect have stuck because of KuRust's/International's compatibility. International inform me they know of KuRust but can neither recommend or not it's use with their products.
I overcoated the Interprotect with minimum of 3 hours between coats (it was a very hot two days) following the minimum guidance from International yet I trapped solvent in the layers and had to allow 3 days for the keel to properly dry.
On fitting the keel, aligning the keel and bolt was tricky with my assistant complaining about wiggling heavy and awkward steel sheet above his head whilst I tried to pass the bolt through the keel.
Having tackled the job in the height of the boating season, Graham's final comment was the predictable:
Do the job in the winter when there's no sailing to be done!
We all could have told you that, Graham! :-)