Benetau 21.7 showing rust on the hull near the swing keel

[CeesvB]

Hi
I am in the process of buying an 18 year old Benetau 21.7. I inspected the it yesterday. I really like the boat and it is in great condition. The B21.7 has a swing keel and all is in good working order. However the underside of the hull is showing some rust marks. The picture is of the port underside showing is a thumbnail size patch where the surface has lifted and rust is showing. The outline of a plate is also visible in the hull surface. There is also some evidence of this on the starboard side, I'm worrying that the keel hanger assembly (embedded in the hull?) is rusting and it will require an expensive repair. The bolts (inspected from inside the cabin) are good order. Is this a known issue with Benetau 21.7?

 

[Fr J Hackett]

There has been a repair in the location of your photograph, the question should be what happened why was it necessary and who did it. It doesn't look to be a particularly effective repair or a well executed one, what did the surveyor say?

 

[SteveA]

I don't think this is a repair - just someone filling in over the brackets for the keel pivot. The keel pivots on a spindle located by two angle iron pieces that are/were galvanised steel. This is a known wear item that can be easily replaced by unbolting the nuts inside and dropping the keel. There are details of this over on the B21 forum site.. If doing this I would also recommend replacing the thrust bearing for the operating spindle at the same time. When I changed ours I used S/S for the pin and brackets and they are still going strong 10 years later!

 

[Neeves]

If you want something robust, Steve does not confirm what he used, you could use Duplex stainless instead of 316 for both the brackets and the pin.

Jonathan

 

[SteveA]

Jonathan, I was able to get hold of some 322 S/S for the job. The reason it had worn quite quickly was that the pin was stuck in the rudder journal so rotated on the bracket instead wearing them down. To stop this I had the pin welded to one of the brackets so the rotation was on the keel bearing which is plastic.