corroded keel bolts on Beneteau Oceanis 430

[petersail]

Hi,

I'm planning to by a Beneteau Oceanis 430 who was build in 1987.
People told me that the keel bolts need to be replaced because of bad corrosion.
Does anyone have experience with this job. The heads are nearly gone so I guess we" have to grind them off and let the keel come down. What if they break off and the bolts are stuck in the keel?
I tried to find a revieuw of the Beneteau Oceanis 430 but there is none.
Does anyone have a similar boat or does anyone knows those boats? How are they in general.
You would expect a lot of osmoses of a 18 year old GRP boat but there are only a few blisters in their beginnig stage.
Any information is much appreciated.

Peter.



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[BigLes]

We've recently bought a 1987 Oceanis 320 - keel bolts were leaking a little (signs of rust and water stains in the bilge). Having chatted with the yard (the boat was standing) they recommended removing the bolts with no need to drop the keel. We did the job ourselves by removing them two at a time, the hardest bit was breaking the old sealant and undoing them (against the sealant that was trying to grip them!). Once removed they cleaned up well, although the heads had rust on, the the shaft of the bolts were spotlessly clean. We re-fitted the cleaned up bolts, however we had new thicker plates made up to replace the old washers (helps to spread the load) and made sure plenty of new sealant around the bolts and plates before tightening. So far they have been leak free.

Regarding the Osmosis, I think you will find the GRP of 1980's Beneteaus is not particularly good and is prone to Osmosis. Our boat had Osmosis but was treated by the previous owner and had been re-epoxied professionaly (about £5000) - which I believe is better than the original due to the advances is resin technology.

Can't comment on the sailing ability as we haven't had her out in earnest yet although I believe they are more of a cruising boat and usually need reefing early.

Hope this helps.

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[beneteau_305_553]

The keel bolts were changed when I bought my First 305 as the heads were rusty. A boatyard did the job and removed the keel completly to ensure that there would be no leaks. Resealed with Sikkaflex. The mast was also removed to stop the boat from being top heavy. Changing the bolts one at a time would probably be fine and a lot easier.
The bolts came out using old undersize sockets hammered onto the old heads. The sockets were 3/4 inch square drive and a big tee bar was needed to move the them. A small disc grinder was used on the really bad heads. The threads were still as new.
New bolts and plates were obtained from Beneteau. Not expensive and sure to be the right ones.
I keep the bilge dry and no corrosion of bolt heads visible.
I changed the rudder bushes while this was being done but they were not significantly worn.



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[bill65]

Hi,years ago read an article about dangers of keel bolt corosion and duly jacked up my folk boat 30 years old and mahogony on oak,, knocked out the old original bolts with new machine grade rod,covering with silver grease,,,lot of trouble for nothing,, the old bolts were still good,,probably better iron in the early 60.s but better safe than sorry

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