gtrunxwd
New member
Hello
I have a 1969 Hurley 20. She has encapsulated bilge keels. They leak. I would say the more leaky of the two fills up to about 3/4 in about a month if left to do so. I have searched the net on the subject of encapsulated keels that leak, and there seems to be varied opinions. But I can't find enough information to satisy me, so I'm posting this here
My concern really is that of safty - I don't fancy loosing a keel and sinking! From what I have read some people think this is the beginning of the end for a boat with encapsulated keels, but I am more on the side of DIY repair.
I think the keels are cast iron, as they have a coating of rust (not thick flaking off rust, just a brown color). They do seem well made as they look to be very snugly fit into the fiberglass, so I don't know if there is a huge amount of water in between the fiberglass and the iron. The water is probably coming in from various small chunks/chips that have been knocked off the bottoms of the keels (not since I have had the boat, dammage looks to be many years old).
I have been thinking what to so as a repair and I have thought of the following:
1 - Grind out the areas of dammage, repair, and add a layer of glass to the bottoms to add some strength
or 2 - Repair then glass over the entire keel area on the outside, as well a bit inside.
3 - For extra safty, install some kind of water tight lid on the inside of the keels, so that if one fell off, the water would not come in... crazy?
Any thoughts, suggestions etc would be greatly appriciated!
I have a 1969 Hurley 20. She has encapsulated bilge keels. They leak. I would say the more leaky of the two fills up to about 3/4 in about a month if left to do so. I have searched the net on the subject of encapsulated keels that leak, and there seems to be varied opinions. But I can't find enough information to satisy me, so I'm posting this here
My concern really is that of safty - I don't fancy loosing a keel and sinking! From what I have read some people think this is the beginning of the end for a boat with encapsulated keels, but I am more on the side of DIY repair.
I think the keels are cast iron, as they have a coating of rust (not thick flaking off rust, just a brown color). They do seem well made as they look to be very snugly fit into the fiberglass, so I don't know if there is a huge amount of water in between the fiberglass and the iron. The water is probably coming in from various small chunks/chips that have been knocked off the bottoms of the keels (not since I have had the boat, dammage looks to be many years old).
I have been thinking what to so as a repair and I have thought of the following:
1 - Grind out the areas of dammage, repair, and add a layer of glass to the bottoms to add some strength
or 2 - Repair then glass over the entire keel area on the outside, as well a bit inside.
3 - For extra safty, install some kind of water tight lid on the inside of the keels, so that if one fell off, the water would not come in... crazy?
Any thoughts, suggestions etc would be greatly appriciated!