What material is that..?

[szymk]

Hi everybody!

While making repairs to the keel and the bilge region, I keep finding spaces filled by lead shot which seems to be encapsulated in resin. It seems that the keel is largely made of this stuff. The boat is a 41' Irwin made in 1983. Anybody has an idea what the material is and how/why it was applied? I don't believe that it is structurally possible that the entire keel is like this - anybody has seen this stuff in a keel, perhaps?

Good luck to everybody with winter repairs to do!

Szymon

[sailorboy1]

it could well be lead shot, some boats with internal ballast used lead shot mixed with epoxy as the ballast as that was an easy way to install the lead as the epoxy was used to hold it all together and seal it from water

[Sailmonkey]

Sounds like ballast to me......When keels are encapsulated ballast rather than bolted on ballast, you have the flexibility to fill the space with whatever is high enough density to give you the righting moment you need. My pearson vanguard was steel punchings covered with glass and resin, the current boat, Allied is lead ingots encased in glass and resin. From a builders perspective, it saves a lot of labor costs to mix shot with resin and pour.