Keel Bolts

[uncle_fred]

Hi all and a Happy new Year maybe somebody can help me here i have the Feeling Kerie 1986 and have to change the plate and nuts on my keel bolts anybody know what size and type of nut i need ??

[meyermm]

Very hard to tell from photo but I will be interested to hear others comment regarding just changing nuts. With the age of the boat I would of thought the bolts themselves would be more of an issue. No experience with keel bolts but a lifetime of working with nuts bolts and seeing what corrosion can do.

[avb3]

Originally Posted by uncle_fred

Hi all and a Happy new Year maybe somebody can help me here i have the Feeling Kerie 1986 and have to change the plate and nuts on my keel bolts anybody know what size and type of nut i need ??

You should be able to determine that yourself by getting a measuring tool. Try this for starters, it may be all you need.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Uncle Fred,
You can take a measurement across the top of the bolt with a tape measure for an approximate measurement then buy one nut that size and try to put it on the bolt or you can unbolt one and take it to a machinist. There are different threads like fine thread or coarse thread so get one nut with fine and one nut with coarse to try them both. Then you need to determine whether the material is stainless or bronze or galvanized steel.
Good luck in your project. As was said, once you get the nuts and plate off check around and on the bolt and look for corrosion.
kind regards,

[meyermm]

I would be more concerned about the area you can not see, through hull area.

[ozskipper]

WOW. IMHO keel bolts are the single most dangerous thing to tinker with without employing a professional. Without them properly fastened, a catastrophic failure could be imminent. The slightest amount of keel movement would ultimately lead to cracked bolts and the keel fallling off- either wholey or partially.

It may be a cost you dont like, but its one job that I would consider should be a shiprights job and not a handymans.

Perhaps I seem a little paranoid. But as I said- its IMHO.

Cheers
Oz

[Laidback]

Originally Posted by uncle_fred

Hi all and a Happy new Year maybe somebody can help me here i have the Feeling Kerie 1986 and have to change the plate and nuts on my keel bolts anybody know what size and type of nut i need ??

If the boat was built in France - guess the bolts will be metric. Even if it was built in Martinique, the bolts may still be metric thread.
Have you tried emailing the Kirie company ? I tried their website
Kirie.com - but it would not open.
One of the designers Mortain may still be around :- Harle & Mortain (Phillipe Harle I believe died in the early 90s)
Alain Mortain may be found at this web site :Mortain & Mavrikios Yacht Design

[Laidback]

Originally Posted by Laidback

If the boat was built in France - guess the bolts will be metric. Even if it was built in Martinique, the bolts may still be metric thread.
Have you tried emailing the Kirie company ? I tried their website
Kirie.com - but it would not open.
One of the designers Mortain may still be around :- Harle & Mortain (Phillipe Harle I believe died in the early 90s)
Alain Mortain may be found at this web site :Mortain & Mavrikios Yacht Design

If that website does not open, I found an email address in my old records for Alain which may be better (I think he is now based in La Rochelle - France)
mmATmortain-mavrikios.com

[uncle_fred]

thanks sent them an email see if i can get further and all thanks for your help

fred

[hellosailor]

Uncle Fred, do you have any plain drill bits on your boat?

When I have to match up the size of a bolt, I will hold up a drill bit behind it and look at the two, changing bits until I find one that is the same size to the outside of the threads. Then just take the drill bit along to the store, do the same thing in the store, and you've matched up the size of the bolt, and you can pick matching nuts from that.

You would also want to properly torque the new nuts when you install them, so you will also need a torque wrench if you don't have one.

A good hardware store or machine shop will be able to sell you a "size finder", which is a plastic or metal sheet with holes stamped in it and bolt thread patterns cut in the side, or a set of flat guages with notched sides. Usually $5, 10 at the most, this is the "proper" way to measure odd nuts and bolts and a good investment.

[Capt.SweetBlood]

Hello,
There is a french active forum on Felling 10.90, and i see you have a 10.40.
People at STW forum ( for sail the world) will be glad to help you, just give model and year of your boat. You can ask in english, i am sur you will have a prompt answer.

Bateaux autour du monde - Sail The World - L'Univers de la grande croisière en voilier - STW

If necessary, i can help you.

Fair winds, and happy new year.

Jean-Pierre

[tallyhorob]

go to a machine supply house and buy a pitch gauge or better yet I use a thread file. it has 8 side with dif pitches and threads per inch takes 2 files to cover most of them. You match up the threads on the file to the bolt will tell you pitch and TPI plus if you ever damage a bolt you can fix the treads