Virgo Voyager Keel Bolts / Hull

[steve6367]

I've been looking at my hull / keel join now for some time and wondering............this year I got around to having the keel dropped and there had indeed been some breakdown of the sealant. The good news is the bolts are ok - the not so good news is the structure of the boat. The top of the keel appears not to be flat and as such the fibreglass that meets with it has taken up the same shape as the keel and some cracking has occurred. This may have happened when the boat was made or over the years but either way does not seem ideal. Also the inside of the bilge now I have investigated is all a little suspect - all seems quite "light weight" and some of the glass bonding in wooden braces is coming away from the wood. The final problem is that the yard have commented on stress cracks in the gel coat in various areas on the hull – including on the keel web.

I have started chipping away everything that is loose inside the bilge and grinding out some of the stress cracks - which fortunately seem to be only as deep as the gel coast and not right through the laminate.

Please find photos here Yankee Folly keel photos

Interested in peoples comments on how much to worry about the cracks in the gel coat? Do I get it grit blasted and grind / fill them all or not worry? When I started talking to the Grit blaster he was concerned about moisture in the hull and was starting to make it all look very expensive!
Also from anyone that has a fin keel Virgo Voyager and may be willing to take a photo of their bilge - I am not sure the arrangement in mine is all original and I would like to compare........

As always this is a balance of what is worth spending on an old boat – I am sure it probably wont suddenly fall apart either, but would like to do a reasonable job.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

 

[Malcb]

Steve

If you could post a photo of the bilge inside I could compare it with mine. I've got a triple keel. which essentially means that there is, in addition to two small bilge keels, a short centre keel with a cast iron stub bolted onto it. Which means that the bilge on mine should be the same as yours, as they used the same mold. All they did for a triple keeler was to put two blocks of wood inside the mold to form the recesses to take the blige keels.

Also if you could post a photo I could send it round a few members of the Virgo Owners Association for their comments.

The Virgo Voyagers can suffer from stress cracks in the gel coat, which is usually limited to the area where internal fittings were glassed in. I've got two on mine, but as they are above the water line, and limited to the gel coat, I've just ground them out and filled with gel coat filler.

 

[steve6367]

Thanks for that - I will take a photo and post.

Any chace you could take one of what you have?

I didn't know there was an owners assocition - think I should probally join.

Steve

 

[steve6367]

I have posted the photo in inside bilge - let me know what you think.

Thanks

Steve