What to do about corroded keel bolts

[Skipper Bob]

Hi,

I would like to ask for some advice. I've been scraping the peeling paint in my bilge to prepare for repainting it and noticed the keep bolts are quite corroded, as shown in the attached pictures.

The boat is a 1962 van de Stadt Pionier 9. A picture of the hull showing her keel is also attached.

I am now considering what to do about these keel bolts. Should this level of corrosion be a cause for concern? Am I about to lose my keel next time I encounter heavy seas? Or is this problem merely cosmetic? Should I just clean and paint over the bolts? Should I perhaps (as one friend here suggested) reinforce the bolts by welding on steel rings around each bolt? Or do it "properly", which probably means lifting the boat out of the water, removing the keel bolts and nuts and replacing them, which probably means removing and later re-attaching the whole keel?

As you can appreciate, I would like to avoid the latter, most drastic scenario.

Thanks for any advice and opinions.

[Cheechako]

They look pretty questionable. Is the keel lead? They might come out if it is.... I guess it depends on how the boat was constructed though.

[boatman61]

If its an iron keel.. I have known folk to leave the old bolts in and drill/thread new holes in situ then screw in the new bolts and trim to height.. put the nut on the thread before hand else its a buga otherwise..

[barnakiel]

Pull them out and check them out. If you have lead ballast, you may have to drop it. Remember the stick goes first then.

b.

[Stumble]

I may be wrong, but I am pretty sure that's a lead keel.

Inspecting the bolts isn't terrible, just take the mast off, unbolt the keel, cut away the keel foot, and lift the hull off the keel. If the bolts are in good shape you don't even have to move the hull, just drop it right back into place, and bolt it back together. If the keel bolts are shot, then you probably need to send it to a foundry to be repaired. It's possible to DIY if the yard will let you, but you have to melt the lead away from the J bolts, remove the old steel ones, and replace with new bolts. Then refil the channels with new lead (or the lead you melted away from the channels previously of course.

Frankly with the health concerns over lead vapors, I wouldn't do it myself.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Given how they look, & that they're well over half a century old. At a minimum, you need to check the section of them between the top of the keel, & the parts of them which you've shown us.

And I hate being the bearer of bad tidings, but realistically, it's time to replace them. Because you don't have a lot of quality metal to work with when reattaching your keel as it is, if/when, you drop things for an inspection.

[boatpoker]

If I saw those on an insurance survey, they would be in the "Needs Immediate Attention" section of recommendation section and recommended as "insurance for port risk only"

This essentially means I would be recommending the vessel not leave the harbour.

Thats what I'd write in the report, in my head I'd be saying ... "Holy crap those are toast".

[landonshaw]

I hit a reef and sheared 8 of my 10 keel bolts. Now, that ended up being a good thing because they were VERY corroded and it forced me to replace. I had a marina do the job of course but watched all the steps, Spice Isle Marina in Grenada. With the boat on supports, the remaining two nuts were taken off. The boat was lifted with the keel supported. It ended up being fairly easy twisting out the old bolts. New rode was delivered from Trinidad, a local machine shop threaded both ends. Both the keel and boat were scraped and cleaned. New sealer was put on the keel and then the boat set back on the keel. Finally tightened the nuts each day for a few days. All in all, it was a fairly easy task and very happy it was done after examining the old rodes and their poor condition.


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Dave Lochner]

Originally Posted by Skipper Bob

Hi,

I would like to ask for some advice. I've been scraping the peeling paint in my bilge to prepare for repainting it and noticed the keep bolts are quite corroded, as shown in the attached pictures.

The boat is a 1962 van de Stadt Pionier 9. A picture of the hull showing her keel is also attached.

I am now considering what to do about these keel bolts. Should this level of corrosion be a cause for concern? Am I about to lose my keel next time I encounter heavy seas? Or is this problem merely cosmetic? Should I just clean and paint over the bolts? Should I perhaps (as one friend here suggested) reinforce the bolts by welding on steel rings around each bolt? Or do it "properly", which probably means lifting the boat out of the water, removing the keel bolts and nuts and replacing them, which probably means removing and later re-attaching the whole keel?

As you can appreciate, I would like to avoid the latter, most drastic scenario.

Thanks for any advice and opinions.

The most drastic scenario is learning that the keel bolts needed replacing when the mast is pointing towards the bottom.

At least the nuts are looking pretty bad. Also have to worry about crevice corrosion which will be occurring beneath the washers and in the space between the bilge and the top of the keel.

[1canajun]

I have the similar problem. 1971 Columbia 34. Iron keel. The bolts look ok but the nuts are fairly corroded. Thought about cutting wheel to nut. Replace one at a time so as not to lift hull from keel.

[Dymaxion]

Amateur opinion here, use a cold chisel or nut breaker and take off a nut or two. Clean out and down to check extent of corrosion below the nut. If it looks decent, put on a fresh nut and washer and retighten to specs. If the bolt doesn't snap off while being tightened you likely can repeat this with all the nuts. BUT... all this means is that the keel is pulled snug against the hull, a good grounding may still cause the bolts to shear off if rusted deeply.
? What about x-ray inspection, the portable digital units may work. Anyone?

[seasick]

Your Van de Stadt Pionier 9 uses an iron keel which is a good thing in that your keel bolts are threaded into the keel.

If you have no immediate plans to head off long-distance sailing, I would try Dymaxion's suggestion of just replacing the nuts and washers, in water, if the bolts appear in reasonable good shape once you pull the nuts.

If you're heading offshore, I'd seriously consider replacing the bolts but you needn't necessarily haul out to accomplish this. You may have to weld on a big T-handle to extract them. They're just one more thing to keep you awake thinking about at sea.

While you're at it, carefully check your deck beams below your mast which is another common problematic area on these older Van de Stadt Pionier 9s.