Keel bolt quality?

[Becky]

We are planning to alter the piping in the bilge in our Moody 37, which entails moving the strum box of the hand bilge pump. When I unscrewed the retaining screws, one was just into the hull, the other was down its full length (approx 2.5cm) and there was a weep of water coming out of the hole when I took it out. So, to me there is a leak, possibly not directly from the sea below the boat, but there is a keel bolt a few cms away, from which a leak may have come.I don't think the screw was through to the keel, surely Mr Moody would have made the bottom thicker at this point?
So this poses the question where does the water come from? And more importantly, is it between the keel and the hull, rotting the keel bolts, which HWMBO assures me are mild steel. I would now like the boat out of the water and all the keel bolts checked and /or replaced. Which wouldn't be an easy thing at all, especially as we have just had a full osmosis treatment (3months ago).
So, what would the Forumites suggest is our best plan, bearing in mind we are planning to go long-distance cruising?

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[Mudplugger]

Becky, been pondering on the weeping screw hole. When you came out for osmosis treatment, one assumes that had you a problem with water ingress in the keel/hull joint, it would have been pretty noticeable, (rust streaks from the keel bolt areas) and would have been picked up by the yard/ contractor. On the other hand, if there is a continual flow thru the screw hole, it's coming from somewhere!, if not it may just be excess moisture trappedv in a small void. BTW are you sure Keel bolts are M/S? I thought Moody's were S/S/

<hr width=100% size=1>Tony W.

 

[Becky]

You are right in that if there had been a leak into the keel-hull join one would have expected to see rust streaks. Which there weren't. It could have been bilge water leaking down, but it bubbled out slowly and for quite a time- basically until I replaced the screw. We have now sealed the hole with epoxy putty which set in the presence of water. But to my mind, we have only covered the problem, not cured it. I will raise this with Dell Quay Marine who did the osmosis treatment. Thank you for your reply
Regards Becky

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[rwoofer]

Moody's have mild steel keelbolts.

On mine the top of the keelbolts have gone rusty even though they are completely sealed in gelcoat. Although this sounds worrying, eveytime I have dried out I have not seem any water leaking thru the keel joint, so I can only assume water is diffusing through the gel coat.

RB

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[Achilles]

Mr Moody certainly does have the bottom a lot thicker than 2.5 cms in the area of the keel bolts. Having a 37 and having had the keel removed 18 months ago purely to check on the condition of the keel bolts I can assure you there is a thick bottom in that area. The bolts themselves are mild steel and on mine anyway there wasn't any problem with any of them, although they all had surface rust on the exposed area in the bilge.

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