Leaky Keel

[SPCarroll]

The Bristol 24 I bought last all had a couple of slots cut into the port side of the keel. The guy at the boat yard said it was to make sure any moisture would drain so the stringers wouldn't pop. There seemed to be no problem, and there was no seepage. Today I drilled into the starboard side of the keel a littl bit lower down, and after getting through the fiberglass some black gritty gunk came out followed by a little bit of water dripping. My worry is that that water has frozen and crushed things over the winter. I was just wondering on a scale of 1-10 how screwed I am.
I drilled a few more holes along the base of the keel to give any water every oportunity to get out. I'm planning on getting her in the water by May 24th. Any advice on checking this would be great.

[DeepFrz]

If it had done any serious damage you would see cracks in the hull. My suggestion is to try to seal the bilge area (may be hard or impossible to reach without removing tanks) to stop water from leaking down into the keel. Some people put a drain plug in the keel near the bottom to facilitate drainage each fall.

[aboutgone]

Let her weep and dry out and do a 12 to 1 grind on the holes you drilled,west sys.epoxy with cabosil and sand fair.Then go and buy a garboard plug and install it in the lowest part of your bilge. Remove the plug and she will drain,put the plug back in and splash her!!!