Water inside keel

[Vegadank]

Hey
I have an Albin Vega from 1970. I have an delamination down in the bottom of the hull. It had mounted an knotmeter, where the crack was following the bottom of this one. I thought this was the reason of the crack. But as I took of the bilge pump water came pumping up the three screw holes. Around 4 l i managed to get out.
So I guess this is the reason why it started delaminating?
The water was kind of brownish, so I am worried about rust down in the keel.
What should I do?

Crack on the left side, with knotmeter on the bottom side where you can see the 4 bolts. And the bilge pump where mounted at the holes in yellow circle

[Vegadank]

Here is a little uppdate.
I scraped of all the old bottom Paint, to search for injuryes. Couldnt find any. Except in the verry front. as you may see on the Third photo It looks like its been repaired in the front bottom of the keel earlyer. But it looks fine? (Picture 3)

I tried grinding Down some of the delamination, it looks like some oily stuff in the middle of the layers.(picture 1) I grinded it allmost Down to the bottom ,but as it contiued all the way. I didnt want to do more damage without an plan.
(Picture 2)

(Picture 4 and 5)
I allso found a screw in the verry bottom of the keel (red circle) right under the tap for the bilge water. (yellow circle) it ran some water out when I opened it. But Isnt it weird having an tap screw into the ballast on the keel?
Is this original or something the older owner have put on trying to fix the delamination problem?


any Insight in how I may go forward With this?

[JPA Cate]

Vegadank,

I am sorry to write this, but your boat has iron ballast over a lead shoe, and the shall have expanded when it rusted. So you have the rusty iron trying to blow apart your keel. I saw someone working on a job of iron keel repair. It was warm where he was working, not the cold you have where you are, and he had cut a large hole to get access. He was using a jackhammer to break out the rusty steel. He was 3 weeks into the job, maybe 1/4 done, paying for days on the hard, and a very long way to go.
If you decide to keep the boat, man, you've a lot of work ahead of you....

Ann

[Vegadank]

Thank you for reply JPA Cate. Yes, its lead in the bottom and iron on the top. So yes, very afraid of the rust and expanding part. But I see some others, filling it With epoxy. If its all filled up With epoxy, wouldnt that keep the air out. Wich should keep it away from further rusting?
Or do really all the rust need to be hammered away?
If its alot of work its not a big deal, as long as the cost is low and yall can show me what to do.

[JPA Cate]

Hi, Vegadank,

I really do not have the knowledge to tell you how to go about it, but I can suggest that you send minaret a pm, as well as some of the surveyors, some of whom are licensed mechanics. You can see some of minaret's work in the thread about the keel repair of the Waukiez, and in his thread about his own boat: Nauticat 52 Refit. Personally, I find his work somewhere above excellent.

Ann

[Vegadank]

Water gathered from tap in the bottom