Twin Keel Thingies from one of them Westerly Caravans

Thanks Roger.

I have a Mirage 28 that will need the keels "sorted" in the next 5 years this has been really helpful.
 
Bilgediver said:
I am curious! What year is the Centaur Roger....I seem to have studs at positions where you have material removed from your keels ??Certainly where the rear aperture is. Cant believe the keels varied between A B and C layout... Mine is a Chieftain !
Click to expand...

https://picasaweb.google.com/110182886418433827802/CentaurReDesign?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Hi Bilgediver, the link above shows two completely different keel profiles the one on the left is mine and the one on the right from a late seventies boat, i imagine yours looks alot like the one on the right, i dont think its to do with interior configurations so much as a general design improvement.

It was a bit of a puzzle to me at first, having measured a newer square port hole Centaur i concluded Westerly re-designed the keel and stub sometime in the mid '70's, as the stud pattern, stub angle and shape are totally different to mine. I believe they made the keels un-handed too that's to say you could bolt either keel on either side whereas on my 1971 boat they are most definately handed.

Also want to point out that the way i repaired my keels is just one way of doing it and not the way, i took advice from what the racing freternity do when fairing appendages and picked the brains of a couple of surveyors, owners and Hamish at Wessex Resins so it is not gospel by any means and if nothing else may help answer some questions about what you can expect to find when you're down there.

Just sorting out the rudder album at the moment.

cheers
 
Last edited:
Camelia said:
Thanks Roger.

I have a Mirage 28 that will need the keels "sorted" in the next 5 years this has been really helpful.
Click to expand...
I had a keel bolt leak on my Mirage which I bodged up for a couple of years before biting the bullet and getting them dropped and re-bedded professionally. I know you can do it yourself but I couldn't spare the time and the boatyard guys did a good job. Here's the work in progress (if the link works)

I never solved the rust issue but did some remedials every year which kept it in check using powered wire brush, Primocon and anti foul. The wire brush on an angle grinder tends to shed bristles so use overalls, boots, gloves, hat and goggles.
BTW I would advise against glassing over the keel to hull joint as I would think its bound to crack eventually and would make subsequent re-sealing very difficult.
 
Last edited:
ghostlymoron said:
I had a keel bolt leak on my Mirage which I bodged up for a couple of years before biting the bullet and getting them dropped and re-bedded professionally. I know you can do it yourself but I couldn't spare the time and the boatyard guys did a good job. Here's the work in progress (if the link works)
I never solved the rust issue but did some remedials every year which kept it in check using powered wire brush, Primocon and anti foul. The wire brush on an angle grinder tends to shed bristles so use overalls, boots, gloves, hat and goggles.
BTW I would advise against glassing over the keel to hull joint as I would think its bound to crack eventually and would make subsequent re-sealing very difficult.
Click to expand...

Hi GM just had a look, thats a fair old bit of work you've had done there and appears to have been executed well, whats with the front of the stub being ground off? Was that due to osmosis?

I think with regards the rust issue its all about time, i descaled, chemically-pressure washed and etched in two days, while the keel was black from the etching i ladled on the POR 15 treatment then scuffed up and scrubbed in the first coat of wests. From then on i shaped the keel with West Systems.

Regarding the joint, the glass is taken quite far past both ends of the keel and covers well over a foot in each direction vertically past the joint although i dont pretend to know what'll happen; suffice to say the keels are enacpsulated all the way round as are the stubs many times over plus what with super thick spreading washers and a billard table-flat mating surface i'd like to think i'll get a few years out of it before anything shows, but who knows.

I mentioned on another thread to someone who asked; getting as much of the twisting forces out of the stub was a priority hence the high number of foam webs glassed into the inside of each stub, infact the only thing that keeps me awake at night is how the boats gonna sit in the water......that should be interesting.

roger
 
At the very end of time - standing in a deserted field somewhere surrounded by rubble there will be the most beautiful set of Keels, perfectly formed and without blemish and these will be they.

Wow - what a job, brilliant! I only remembered yesterday that I meant to photograph my engine refurb having, hopefully, nearly finished so the photos are even more impressive.
 
rogerball0 said:
cheers Swanrad, does make me wonder what'll happen when i'm gone, expect nieces, nephews and cousins will sell it, got to try and get one of them into sailing in the meantime so they don't flog Uncle Rog's Centaur for a pittance.
Click to expand...

Having just read your Blog in its entirety I would say that is an amazing piece of work Roger. Providing various nieces, nephews and cousins read it too they won't be selling it for a pittance!

How are plans proceeding with the cabin interior? I've often thought of ripping the galley out of my Pageant and redesigning.

Keep up the amazing work.
 
Cheers ganter,

You'd be amazed at how much wasted space there is in the saloon of our boats due to the interior moulding, at present i'm not working on the boat as both it and the shed are running with condensation so until the weather improves not doing alot.

The interior layout i've nailed down to a large double berth to port made up of an L-shaped sofa running from bulkhead to companionway then to starboard a full length galley to include desk/nav area and shed loads of storage drawers (full depth) all modular therefore demountable. I 've learnt alot from going over race boats with interiors that can be removed for racing and from the years of ballache i've endured getting to pipes, cables, nuts and bolts i intend doing something similar, obviously the basic structures will be tabbed to the hull but everything else will bolt or screw to them so the idea is you can, if need be; remove 80% of the saloon to get to all systems.

The saloon being some 380 odd cubic feet means you can actually make the space quite liveable but i totally accept Westerly had production line considerations, i mean in the time its taken to get this far Westerly had built some 1400 Centaurs, still it keeps me off the streets!

I remember doing the galley in on mine, made things alot easier to get to:

Image0381.jpg
 
rogerball0 said:
Cheers ganter,

The saloon being some 380 odd cubic feet means you can actually make the space quite liveable but i totally accept Westerly had production line considerations, i mean in the time its taken to get this far Westerly had built some 1400 Centaurs, still it keeps me off the streets!
Click to expand...

It would have taken them a lot longer to build those 1400 if they'd done it to your build quality standards.
 
Hey Derek, I never thought of that, i'll have to get something in writing, those little feckers - they would as well! Right got to get the little ankle biters out on the water asap, they must contract the bug of sailing. Christ if i told them theres a piece of gold in each keel they'll probably take a chainsaw to it.
 
rogerball0 said:
Hey Derek, I never thought of that, i'll have to get something in writing, those little feckers - they would as well! Right got to get the little ankle biters out on the water asap, they must contract the bug of sailing. Christ if i told them theres a piece of gold in each keel they'll probably take a chainsaw to it.
Click to expand...

FWIW a chap in our club died (in his late 80's) and his brother-in-law & nephew went for a potter around on his old Pageant & fell in love with it. It's now looking better than it ever did & gets regular use too as the pair of them learn to sail in it. Neither had ever been on a boat before.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top