Large piece of iron in bilge of Dufour 35

[DomPR]

we are renovating a 1975 Dufour 35 and inside the bilge there appears to be a very large piece of iron that’s been coated and is now very rusty inside. It appears to have a grounding wire bolted into it as well.

i can see that this didn’t come with the boat originally as some one had to cut off some of the inner structure to fit this in.

I’ve also look at videos of folks cleaning out the bilge of a dufour 35 and it’s clear this piece is not there.

I imagine that perhaps this was some sort of ad how grounding solution?

what is this for? And Now that it appears to be turning into iron dust what should be done with it??

 

[NormanS]

I think you know the answer, - get rid of it.

 

[DomPR]

we are renovating a 1975 Dufour 35 and inside the bilge there appears to be a very large piece of iron that’s been coated and is now very rusty inside. It appears to have a grounding wire bolted into it as well.

i can see that this didn’t come with the boat originally as some one had to cut off some of the inner structure to fit this in.

I’ve also look at videos of folks cleaning out the bilge of a dufour 35 and it’s clear this piece is not there.

I imagine that perhaps this was some sort of ad how grounding solution?

what is this for? And Now that it appears to be turning into iron dust what should be done with it??

Actually turns out I was wrong in the 1975 model this price does appear in the diagrams and apparently according to someone I spoke with it is for moving the boat around in the factory.

does anyone know if this is directly connected to the iron keel? It sort of looks like it is in which case the rust could start eating away at the keel?



Looks like my images didn’t upload before here it is:

 

[William_H]

Presumably if it is of significnat weight and someone thought to enhance stability of the boat with more ballast. I imagine it is attached near the bottom of the hull but inside. This will enhance the stability and also aid to some degree in self righting. Is it worth leaving there? That is a question hard to answer. If the rust bothers you. (it should not matter much) then get it out. If you feel the added stability is a good idea leave it in. If it is say 100kg it won't make much difference and could be replaced by a water tank with similar mass when full but more useful. ol'will

 

[pandos]

It maybe original.

There was an eye fitted to which a crane hook could be attached for lifting the boat using an ordinary crane.

The cable would drop down through the deck hatch and was connected by additional lines to the sheet winches to balance the boat...

The whole thing was very tight and very difficult even to fit a bilge pump so cutting away stuff may not necessarily be related to the strange rusty thing.

There was also a table leg on a fitting that also seemed to grow out of the bilge...

 

[DomPR]

Presumably if it is of significnat weight and someone thought to enhance stability of the boat with more ballast. I imagine it is attached near the bottom of the hull but inside. This will enhance the stability and also aid to some degree in self righting. Is it worth leaving there? That is a question hard to answer. If the rust bothers you. (it should not matter much) then get it out. If you feel the added stability is a good idea leave it in. If it is say 100kg it won't make much difference and could be replaced by a water tank with similar mass when full but more useful. ol'will

The rust only bothers me in case this piece of iron is somehow attached to the iron of the actual keel, from the diagram I found online that may be the case.

I’ve seen a video of a tear down of a keel of a dufour 35 from 1981 though this part is missing in favor of a hole in the actual iron.

so I would presume that this iron is actually part of the keel used for lifting it in place for construction.

In any case for now we plan to treat the rust with some chemical branded as Ospho and then paint it

 

[Neeves]

X-Yachts used to, maybe still do, have an elongated keel bolt to which was attached a removable threaded eye. The eye housed a Kevlar strop that passed through the cabin roof utilising a water tank filler with cap (so the water tank filler was not used for water ). The keel bolt was carefully chosen such that when lifted the yachts, or the deck, was horizontal. The strop and eye was used when the yachts were shipped and during commissioning and to take to the hard. The strop was rated and simply attached to a crane by an appropriately rated hook. The strop could also be attached to one of those big fork lifts used to move MoBos.

It was common practice in the late '80s in the time before every marina had a travel lift.

It is difficult to believe your piece of steel is part of the keel and would surely be more likely bolted on, maybe using the keel bolts - with the device recessed into the casting.

Jonathan

 

[penfold]

A curious one; undoubtedly a lifting eye but as it's not rated getting anyone to lift your boat with it might be in vain and as what it's attached to is unclear a proof test might be rather destructive.

 

[DomPR]

X-Yachts used to, maybe still do, have an elongated keel bolt to which was attached a removable threaded eye. The eye housed a Kevlar strop that passed through the cabin roof utilising a water tank filler with cap (so the water tank filler was not used for water ). The keel bolt was carefully chosen such that when lifted the yachts, or the deck, was horizontal. The strop and eye was used when the yachts were shipped and during commissioning and to take to the hard. The strop was rated and simply attached to a crane by an appropriately rated hook. The strop could also be attached to one of those big fork lifts used to move MoBos.

It was common practice in the late '80s in the time before every marina had a travel lift.

It is difficult to believe your piece of steel is part of the keel and would surely be more likely bolted on, maybe using the keel bolts - with the device recessed into the casting.

Jonathan

Yes it’s odd I hope they are not connected because the diagram shows that that metal of the keel is angled at an incline to the bow. But there is a line between this lifting eye and the actual keel ballast metal. I suppose we will try to remove as much of the rust as possible and then apply this chemical and then cover it up.

appreciate all the information!

 

[DomPR]

A curious one; undoubtedly a lifting eye but as it's not rated getting anyone to lift your boat with it might be in vain and as what it's attached to is unclear a proof test might be rather destructive.

Indeed. It’s much too rusty around the eye to even attempt it. Trying would surely result in a catastrophic fail. Now that I know what this is called (thanks!) I can try to do a bit more researched to see how it’s attached but hopefully we can remove the rust around the eye and it hasn’t spread further down under the paint.