Westerly Griffon Keel Strengthening

[scottyb]

Has anyone any experience in Westerly Bilg Keel Hull strengthening? Its perplexing as I havent seen one that HAS been

Ive spoken to a surveyor and shown him a number of photos of the keel bolt arrangement on my Mk1 Griffon, he said that he didnt think the internals had been strengthened but couldnt see from the photos any major movement either internally or externally. He did recommend additional strengthening as I am on a semi drying mooring on the river Frome near Wareham. So what next..

What is the consensus here, modified or not?
Should this be strengthened and if so what is the best practice approach?
Is the rust excessive in the hull to keel join?
Does anyone have any pictures of a Griffon with strengthening they could share?
Does anyone know of a good and reasonably priced mobile shipwright in the Southampton area that has done this job before and well?

As there seem to be a number of other interested Griffon owners on various forums with a similar questions, i would be more than happy to discuss, share info and pictures and meet to bottom this question out.

Would really appreciate any others members experiences & knowledge
Scott

 

[vyv_cox]

What is it that persuades you that it needs to be strengthened? I see no evidence of flexing or internal leakage in your photos. I owned a GK29, renowned for the light layup of the hull around the keel bolts. That was reinforced twice but continued to flex and allow water leakage into the bilge.

Presumably your boat is far from new and has dried out many times. Why would it need additional strength at this relatively late date? It appears that it might benefit from lowering the keels and rebedding them but I would hesitate to go further.

 

[scottyb]

I have little bit of weep on the front port side bolt under the loo but not much at all, I was looking at removing the two nuts, adding some sika/sealant under the plate and re tightening (not too much) then, keeping an eye on it over the season.

The lockers under the seats in the saloon where the keels bolts/nuts are glassed in are always bone dry

Ive also got a 1.5" crack forming in the gel coat on the front/inside of the keel stub on the starboard, again I was going to "V" the crack out, wash, fill an fair and again keep monitoring to se if gets worse. The boats on the hard at the moment and Im talking to the yard about options/cost to reseat

However....do I really need to spend the money on this now as it seems manageable at the moment.

Apart from that I think its a mostly forum paranoia!

 

[vyv_cox]

I think I would do as you suggest, try to get some sealant in and continue to monitor. The problems with this approach are:

1. The crack changes shape when there is load on/off it, especially with a bilge keeler. It is ideally done with the boat in the slings with a fin keel but with a bilge keel I guess it depends on the crack location.

2. Not many sealants will stick to rust, especially if it's wet.

Rebedding is undoubtedly the best solution but it sounds like that might be OTT at the moment.

 

[Rossynant]

Just a thought. Keels should be rebedded in some 20 years age, especially on boat that was standing on them a lot. Keel will not fall of or such, it's just a matter of leaks and corrosion in bolts as sealing fails. Then again - how much would you want to invest in old boat...
I'd risk opinion that the mount there is stiffened proper way, as there is an 'keel angle' or 'floor' - however you call it in UK - laminated in, obviously to eliminate flexing of profile. But I don't know those boats, no idea if this is enough.

 

[scottyb]

Thanks to you both for your replys
I think I will save my money this year, do a interim fix and monitor.
Im also going to try an find some other griffons to take a gander at the area of concern

Cheers
Scott

 

[bert49uk]

taken from Westerly owners site

In all the excitement an interesting design fault had slipped past Dubois, Lloyds and Westerly's own in-house team. In the Spring of 1981 a Griffon which had been moored in deep mud all her life failed to rise with the incoming tide. The problem lay in the fact that the Griffon's keels were much narrower than the Centaur's, so that more leverage was applied by the keels to the keel-stubs, as they sank into the glutinous Welsh mud. Since the bracing of the Griffon's keel-stub was much the same as her predecessor's, the strain proved too much and cracks appeared at the front end of the stubs. If unnoticed, these would eventually widen until the inevitable happened.

I believe that the last Griffon without fortified stubs was sail number 281. Sadly the Warranty work involved in correcting the problem was one of many factors that made Westerly Marine Construction sink as well. About 20 boats were brought back and modified before the demise of W.M.C. in October 1981. The good news is that, once identified, the problem is easily rectified with some additional stiffening 'floors' bonded across the stubs. It is unlikely that there are many unmodified Griffons around nowadays, but this is not a job for the amateur.

 

[scottyb]

Hi Bert

Good to hear from you on something apart fom Porsche 911 964's!
I got my bits from the Bournemouth OPC earlier in the year but thanks for the prices anyway.

Back to the Griffon...Ive read all the details on this to such a degree that I've made my self paranoid about it now. Unfortunately, im #278 and just missed the new fortified stubs. Im going to look at interim fix this year and then monitor as I go thorugh the season

Did you get a new boat in the end?
Scott
1991 911 964 Grand Prix White & 1981 Westerly Griffon

 

[bert49uk]

Scott,
just depends what you are using the boat for, if its on a drying mooring the keels should be reinforced, I thought all the early boats were subject to a recall by Westerly to have the work done, maybe worth a call to Christine at Trafalgar yacht services , she would now. Failing that ask the question on the Westerly forum.
Regards, now have a Fulmar