Bahia 46: Urgent - Keel Bolts on FP Bahia

[yottiejohn]

Just a question,

has any other cruiser encountered a problem with the keel bolts
on a Fountaine Pajot Bahia,

on my latest haulout I have noticed that the both the keels drop about 5-10mm when the boat is lifted in the slings ?

we do not appear to have been shipping water and there are no other apparent ill effect as far as we can ascertain, and we have not noticed any noise or strange movement at sea

Has anyone else encountered this
and if so, how did you tighten them,
the bolt heads appear to be under a fibreglass cap arrangement in the bilges and almost inaccessible ?

Any prompt response appreciated as we splash again in 6 days

Thanks

Yottie John

[amarinesurveyor]

There are no keel bolts on any FP boats. The keels are held up in the well with some sort of mastic and are meant to break-away and be sacrificial. With that being said, I haven't seen the situation you describe, nor have I ever seen them removed for re-gluing. It might be possible to contact FP and see what they recommend. Sorry, but I don't know what the fix is.
Brian

[yottiejohn]

Brian

many txs for your informative and very prompt response
that may well be the answer,

What I am witnessing is the mastic "stretching" when the weight of the keel assembly "hangs" unsupported, and the keels both appear to drop slightly ..

What drew my attention to it was the mastic "squeezing out" again slightly when the boat was put down on the keels again ..
so we lifted her again to check, but the movement was very very small

Thats also why I cannot locate any "bolt heads" inside ??? lol

so look like nothing to worry about basically ?

Thanks ... I was having a quiet little panic attack here

John H

[paulrack]

If it was my boat I would not be happy with the movement, it is probably not a safety issue though. The keels should not be that heavy unless they are used as freshwater tanks which I know some cat manufacturers do. Are you sure thay have not filled u with seawater?

[yottiejohn]

Hi Txs
for the interest and the post,

we did check the keels for unusual water / moisture content
and they are fine, it really does look as if the "movement"
was somewhat exaggerated by my initial "shock" reaction

Brians comments .. put me back on track
but thanks again for your interest
never hurts to check everything !

John H

[CHARTER MAGIC]

i have a bahia 46 , there are no keel bolts and there is a keyway in the hull, the keels are separate part and are made of solid fiberglass and will not take on water, strong enough to sit the boat on, no blocking required like other boats that do not have solid glass bottoms. Leopards have balsa coring all the way to the bottom and must sit on blocks.

i am confussed by yuur info, it says you have a Bruce Roberts
45, what year is your Bahia and where do you sail. Be glad to share lots of info on upgrades you can do.
These keels will push out of key backwards if hit hard enough, but in my expeirence the boat will be brought to a stop before this happens. FP's are extremely strong boats. Your Bahia should have totally dry bilges throughout the boat. no water any where. if there is any find the source.