Joint between Keel/Hull?

[crg]

Hi All,

Can anyone help with the following ? for my boat :-
Mystere Flyer 26, 1973, fin keel.

The joint between the cast iron keel and hull has been covered with a rubber seal 50mm wide and 2mm thick, has anyone seen or used this type of seal before? suspect it may be some type of DIY repair, keel is dry inside.

Reason for asking is that the leading edge of the rubber seal has been damaged along with a vary small nick in the GRP between keel and hull.

Question is:-
Should I leave the rubber seal and just fill in the damage to the GRP, or remove the rubber seal fill in the damage to the GRP and fit a new rubber seal??

What type of filler should I use for small nick between hull and keel?

Cheers Cliff.

 

[tillergirl]

I've seen two Mystere's out of the water and neither had an obvious rubber seal at the keel joint. This could mean that the keel has been taken off and a new seal put between boat and keel. Is it a rubberised mastic or a sheet of rubber? Either way, the only way to replace it is to drop the keel again. That sounds a bit drastic and I would have thought unnecessary since you have no signs that the seal has failed. How long is the damaged section and how deep is the damage to the rubber. You should obviously repair the damage to the GRP and you could fill in the damage to the rubber with a rubberised mastic although the mechanical grip won't be great.

 

[cpedw]

That sounds to me like the "belt & braces" I applied to the hull/keel joint of my Westerly. It's used because the 20+ year old sealant originally applied by the builder can get brittle, start to fall out and we suppose eventually leak.
The rubber strip is used to make and repair wet suits; it's available from diving shops and other places. I applied it using Sikaflex.
It regularly gets damaged by the strops on lifting out (possibly lifting in too - I'll never know) but it's easy to add some more Sikaflex and extra tape if necessary.
Still no water coming upwards into the bilges so it might be working.
Regards,
Derek

 

[crg]

Thanks for the help guys, the rubber does look like a neoprene wet suit patch material that was probably damaged by lifting strops, will remove old rubber, repair small nick on GRP between hull and keel with an epoxy filler then fit a new strip of neoprene around the keel/hull seal with sikaflex, as you say "belt & braces"

Cheers Cliff.