Yacht for sale with rusty keel bolts - walk away?

[Jonny Lees]

Thanks for all the advice folks.

I have attached four of the photos I took on the day;

1) water in the bilge with salt crystals in it - looked liked crushed ice. Where did this come from was my thinking...

2) rusty keel stud, nut, washer and supporting strut. It doesn't look like this would come off easily, if at all and may need cutting off...

3) Rusty engine but the rest of the engine was quite clean and both the engine and gearbox oil looked fresh.

4) Salt build up at one end (raw water pump end I think) of the engine. Other end fine..

The owner explained that a hose had come off on his last outing and he threw fresh water over it after replacing the hoses, but not quite enough. Not sure this adds up to what I saw. Seems like water ingress over a much longer period....

My fear is that rust on the keel (possibly an iron keel), the keel bolts or the galvanised steel support structure (Grand Soleils have these!) has caused cracking and letting in water... This, I think, would be very bad!

Maybe the owner was just happy with this and I'm being paranoid..!

Anyway, there are two more of these boats I can go and take a look at but at a 2 hour flight away it will be in a few weeks now. But I'm just asking here to try to get a better understand what I'm seeing and what is normal and what is bad .......!

Good advice always welcome...



Best wishes

Jonny.

[Jonny Lees]

I managed to find an old brochure that shows the keel bolts and how they are supported with a backing plate under each pair of nuts.

This shows that the plate sits against the hull over a flange that forms a stiffener to spread the keel loads into the hull.

The next photo shows a nut and a plate under the engine (sited right above the keel) with a good amount of corrosion.

If anyone thinks this is no big deal and that I could simply un-bolt these with WD40, remove them and the plates (one at a time of course), clean them up and/or replace them, then fill the holes with fresh sealant and re-fit the nuts and that this would be safe, then do let me know....!

I'll put in an offer, then give it a go...

Fair winds to all...

[Terra Nova]

Originally Posted by Jonny Lees

...If anyone thinks this is no big deal and that I could simply un-bolt these with WD40, remove them and the plates (one at a time of course), clean them up and/or replace them, then fill the holes with fresh sealant and re-fit the nuts and that this would be safe, then do let me know...

Except for the WD40 (use AeroKroil) that's how it's done. Add anti-seize compound to the threads.

[Jonny Lees]

Thanks Terra Nova,

Are there any other issues that may have lead to the corrosion of the plate and nut?

J