Keel bolt inspection, do I proceed?

davidpbo

davidpbo

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Boatless in Cheshire. Formerly 23ft Jeanneau Tonic
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I decided to inspect at least one keel bolt this year.

My boat 18yr old Jeanneau Tonic trailerable with 450Kg cast iron stub keel.

Bolts are glassed in , I chipped off fibreglass to find a very brittle white substance surrounded the nut, what is it?

Gelcoat?

Gelcoat filler?

It looks too hard and brittle to be a sealant such as Sikaflex.

The top of the bolt I have gained access to is pristine no rust whatsoever, it appears to be non stainless steel (certainly the nut is magnetic).

Should I proceed further and try and remove it?

Is it likely to be a stud threaded into to stub keel or

A keel bolt coming up through the bottom of the keel (depth of stub keel about 2ft)

I am not aware of any problem with the keel other than maybe a gap where it joins the hull at its front when it is suspended and I am tempted to leave things alone for this season at least as I want to go sailing, regretfully I was unable to carry out maintenance earlier this due to the job that was hopefully going to pay for it overrunning.

The boat has as far as I know spent all of its life on lakes stored ashore in the winter and has only been sea sailed once so far (last year) on the Clyde.

Opinions gratefully received, If anyone has specific knowledge relating to this model please get in touch.

David.
 
It sounds to me like the sort of job that, when you're half way through, you'll wish you never started. If there's no sign of rust of moisture around the keel bolts I'd be inclined to leave well alone.
 
I have no experience of this, but for what it's worth I agree with the last post. A very experienced surveyer once told me that he nearly cried, when he saw the damage done to one boat, after he asked for a keel bolt to be drawn; and this was in a yard. I tend to be a bit laid back...but I would cover it up and go sailing.
 
Why would you want to try and remove a keel bolt that appears to be absolutley well sealed. Do you have movement of the keel?
I spoke to a manufacturer many years ago who said if there is nothing wrong with the keel then leave the bolts alone. I would suggest you do the same.
 
I was told to give them a tap with a hammer and if they make a good noise you should leave them alone. If they make a bad noise you should have a look. Only trouble is I have no idea what a bad noise sounds like....
 
were they completely sealed as in this case? There is no need to inspect a keel bolt if there is no symptoms to suggest you should. ( I do not include wooden boats) My yacht is 29 years old and I will be drawing any keel bolt until i see a necessity to do so. That just my decision taken from listening to the builders of GRP boats.
 
Why would you be wanting to tighten your keel bolts? they should already be tight otherwise you would have movement in the keel. If there are no signs of movement you would not be trying to tighten them!!!
 
If it was glassed in, and looks OK I would not attempt to draw it out. It is almost certainly a stud which has been well tightened in to a tapped hole in the iron keel. It is unlikely that you will be able to get it out because there will not be enough thread showing to get two full nuts on, and lock them together sufficienty to draw the stud. With the type of keel fitting you desribe I think the only way you could actually get to see the studs would be to remove all the nuts with the keel supported from below on a big jack, and then lower the keel. I do not think you want to go there.

As the nut was glassed in, you should cover it in again to prevent any water ingress.
 
Actually the dead give away is if, when you give them a sharp tap with a hammer, they shear off. Then you know it is time to replace!
 
Since I took the boat out of the water today to have the starboard keel repaired following an accident this topic has not cheered me up in any way. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
I did have a slight gap between the keel and the hull when the boat was lifted (at the front of the keel) and was concerned about water getting in there, causing corrosion (of keel) and/or osmosis.

I may lift the front slightly 3/4" or so and inject a flexible sealant.

Part of the reason for inspecting was that the white stuff around the bolts caused a discolouration under the fibreglass of the cabin floor (there is no bilge to speak of) and I wanted to check that that was not water ingress or delamination of the fibreglass. I am reassured about that.

In reply to another poster, how do I know how much torque. I don't , therefore I was going to be very careful, its a 14mm stud.

Just at the moment I am too busy breaking the trailer and the outboard.

I will probably cover the bolt with gelcoat filler and reglass it back in for now.

Thanks for the thoughts and comments if anyone wants to add anything please feel free to do so.
 
Sorry I tend to dissagree with anyone who says that if keel studs look ok from inside the hull that they will be fine, if there is water getting to the stud between the keel and hull joint, then they could be rotting away unknown to anyone.
The only way to check a stud properly is to either draw it, or drop the keel and check them all.
Is it possible that your studs are galvenized and that the white substance is the corrosion often found on galvenized coatings?
As for torque, my studs are 3/4" dia, galvenized, when tightening them a few weeks ago, I used a 24" Snap on master bar, cocked my ears back, and just pulled like a Donky, Infact as tight as I possibly could get them.
 
I did put a lock nut on and put reasonable force on the nuts, nothing moved so I removed locknut, tightened original using goodly force on the T bar and covered it with gelcoat fill. I will glass it back in.

What a miserable day it was today. No chance of sorting trailer or testing outboard.

Thanks for the contributions.

David
 
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