No I am not "afraid" of
keel bolts, I just don't like what I can't inspect/see.
The situation is:
Our partner in NH on Lake Winnipesaukee dropped out last year on our old
Catalina 30, and since she definitely was not ocean worthy so we
sold her off.
We now potentially (the wifes approval being the "potential" part
) have a line on a 1 owner 1984
Catalina 30 out of Narragansett Bay. The
price is very reasonable and the owner is a close
family friend that I have known since I was born.
I know the
history on the
boat and the
maintenance that was done on it.
The
boat has been dry docked/winterized in his yard for the last 4 years due to
health reasons.
I plan on getting a
survey and getting the
engine running and checking the operation of all the systems. But the one thing you can't see is if there is
corrosion on the
keel bolts at the
keel hull joint.
I have absolutely no reason to believe anything in the
keel is compromised or in poor condition. The
maintenance on the boat has been impeccable and knowing the owner and his
family the boat has not been "abused". He's never even let it leave
dock with out him on it.
Now to the "irrational fear" part, Aside from torquing the keel nuts to full spec to make sure the
fiberglass or
plywood is not compromised I have no other way to check for
corrosion of the keel bolts from unknown
water ingress. There is no cracking at the keel
hull joint (aside from the
catalina smile which is normal) and no other evidence to lead me to believe there is a problem. So I guess the big question is, Is there a point in a boats life where you should drop the keel to check the bolts as regular maintenance or do you wait for certain signs before doing anything?
If this deal goes through I will be leaving the lake for good and keeping the boat in Narragansett bay.
Which I've been wanting to do for a very, very long time and I am very excited about upgrading to the ocean!!!!!! But with that comes some anticipation of the unknown and what I can't inspect. You all have much bigger waves on the ocean
and things I wouldn't worry about on the lake I am second guessing for the ocean.
So am I being ridiculous about phantom corrosion on keel bolts or due to age is there something I should be doing before or after
purchasing?