Working under the keel logistics

[Laskadog]

Hi all,

I have a question regarding working under the keel of my boat. I can see a some bare fibreglass under the keel and what looks like some thickened epoxy or something flaking off. It's hard to see because the boat is resting on the keel. I would like to grind it, dry it, maybe lay up a layer of fibreglass and seal it up again, but access is impossible. Here are some tech ical specifics.

My boat is an Aloha 28 and it is on the hard on its cradle. It rests on its keel and 5 pads, although I don't really know what is supporting the weight of the boat, the keel or the pads or a combination of the 2. The Aloha 28 has a encapsulated lead keel and was constructed in a clam shell fashion with 2 halves glassed together along the center line of the boat.

The cradle is a steel cradle and has one center crossmember where the keel rests. However there is a long 2"x12"x15' plank that is resting lengthwise between the keel and the cradle which I assume helps support the keel. Because if this plank I cannot get access or even see under the keel to work on it.

Unfortunately, our club does not allow us to work on the boat while in the straps for security reasons. It's a crane, not a travelift. We don't have stands at the club either.

The way I see it I have 4 options:

1- Leave as is.
2- I could cut the plank at the crossmember in order to get access to all but 2 or 3 inches of the keel, but then I'm not sure the keel will like all that weight on a 3 inch area, not to mention that there will be a 3 inch area still exposed to the water.
3- Wait until next year and before taking the boat out of the water, I could raise all 5 pads, leaving the keel basically unsupported. I'd even try to raise them with the boat on the cradle,. but the are really rusted and not sure I'll get them to budge.
4- An unknown option that someone here will ingeniously come up with

Any opinions or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

[rbk]

Generally you do what you can, move supports then get the rest. Takes some preplanning. Weight of the boat should be on the keel, supports just stop it from falling over. Move one support at a time, use your lift/crane to move your keel blocks. Keel should be on wood blocks not on ground.

[roverhi]

The weight of the boat should be totally on the keel with the pads just tight snough to keep the boat upright. Classic way to work on bottom of keel is to have a single narrow block at one end. Work on the area that's exposed, jack up the boat and move the block to the other end and work on the newly exposed area. Your boat is probably light enough that it might work even though the stands are not designed to carry much weight. Might get by with pads supporting boat for a quickie but pads will deform hull if they carry weight more than a couple of days. Last but probably costly is to have the yard hang the boat from the travel lift while you work on it.

[Laskadog]

Thanks for the replies. So I can rest the boat on only part of the keel? The keel is at least 8" wide and the base and looks pretty sturdy.

[MartinR]

If you know what you are doing you can easily lift the boat a little with cheap hydraulic jacks to move the pads. But make sure it can not fall over.

[Laskadog]

After sleeping on it (or rather losing sleep over it), I figure out a way of lifting the boat 1/2" to move the plank and support one half of the keel at a time while working on the other half. Because of that lengthwise plank under the keel, I can't get a jack under the keel, so I have to lift it some other way or cut the plank.

Thanks.

[moctrams]

Be safe and not cheap. Have the yard lift you up with travel lift over night.

[Laskadog]

Unfortunately, that's not an option. We have a crane and not a travelift and we are not allowed to work on the boat under the crane

[petertheking]

I would be very wary of jacking the boat up to move the keel plank. If you know what you are doing it is possible, but the risk is high.

To remove and rebed keels we use a belly cradle, this does not have small pads but a curved support matched to hull shape to go port to starboard, one on the forward bulkhead, one on the aft bulkhead.

If you try and lift the boat with normal cradle pads you risk pushing the hull in as they are not designed to take weight, only to stop the boat falling over.

as mentioned you do not need the keel supported the full length. We use two hardwood blocks (at front and back) to support the boats weight on the keel. This gives access to most of the keel. Then the crane lifts the boat, and the blocks are moved a couple of inches forwards or backwards to give access to the rest if needed.

I would say it depends on the repair needed, which is hard as you cant see to tell. If it was not leaking last year i would be tempted to launch, giving chance to inspect while in slings. Then wait until next haul out and use the belly cradle or two plank method depending on how big a repair it needs.

I have seen all kinds of bodge techniques, but these days you got to think health and safety. Jacking up can be done in a safe way, but if can go horiably wrong as well.

Ps first post so hello everyone,

[Laskadog]

Thanks Peter,

I was definitely leaning towards waiting until haul out next season. That way I could have a good look under the keel when I splash in a few weeks. I can also make the necessary changes to the cradle to be able to gain access to the keel one half at a time. It would also give me several months if ever I need to dry out the fibreglass.

Another note, is that there is a 5th pad supporting the boat along the center line of the hull just behind the keel. If I could raise that V-shaped pad by 1 inch, I could likely move the blocks under the keel. The boat would very temporarily be supported by the center pad and the 2 front pads. The problem right now is that the nut is pretty rusty, so getting that to budge might be tricky. Getting those pads adjustable was on my to do list anyways.

[bootstrapper]

Hi,if all else fails, underwater epoxy does work very well. I have used it with success just with snorkel and fins but the boat was in warm clear water at the time

[NorthCoastJoe]

You could build two "A" frames with a beam between them and support the boat like lifting straps would. Lift half the boat then the move the set up to do the other end.
Or rent a forklift or loader that can handle the weight. I have lifted my Macgregor 25 off the trailer using the loader on my tractor.

[RaymondR]

Air bags like the ones used with the exhaust on 4WD vehicles to lift them out of bogs??