Lead vs. Iron bolt-on Keels

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by Poche

I would check at least one keel boat every haul out on an iron keel.
The buyer of my last boat didn't do that. The keel fortunately fell off in the slip and not while sailing.

Wow, that is some work. Means taking the water tank out and probably finding a multiplier and some 3/4" drive sockets for the 24mm nut.

Pete

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by sardinebreath

I get the density and shock absorption advantages of lead, but I have run across several cases where keel bolt corrosion pretty much created a throw away sailboat (J bolt replacement is not cheap). Is that an area where iron can be advantageous? Wouldn't it always be possible to tap out a larger hole in iron even when there was significant corrosion? I don't really have any experience with bolt-on keels so I'm trying to educate myself in order to expand the shopping horizon. Experienced thoughts would be appreciated.

Just the opposite I think actually, lead is much less prone to corrosion than iron. Iron's damn good too though.
Saw a show recently where they found parts of those ships lost in the arctic for 150-200 years. Laying on the beach, prone to tidal drying and wetting, cast iron, still there!

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by robwilk37

so it should be remembered that bolting-on a sailboats keel is entirely a nod to ease of manufacturing and transportation and not to seaworthiness. in a perfect world all sailboats would have encapsulated/integral keels.

let the outrage begin...

Totally agree. It's just one more thing to maintain or go wrong. Never had a bolt on keel in 50 years.

I have grounded molded keels from 5 knots to dead stop, bow nearly under, with no damage. Twice at least. (once a rock and once a sunken ship) On a 47 foot boat that's a lot of energy being absorbed. Slight gouge on the keel front. But I don't buy cheap thin boats either.
Another part of this discussion is keel length. The longer the keel, the more area where the keel meets the hull there is to distribute the energy from grounding. Thus lower stress in the hull and less damage.
One of the boats I used to manage in charter was a 42 ft common production boat. A charterer hit a rock at 5 knots. The boat suffered $23k in damage (2004 $), stress cracking the hull aft of the keel, breaking tabbing on the cabinetry and motor mounts. My Passport 47 foot long fin keel suffered no damage in the same situation.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by robwilk37

so it should be remembered that bolting-on a sailboats keel is entirely a nod to ease of manufacturing and transportation and not to seaworthiness. in a perfect world all sailboats would have encapsulated/integral keels.

let the outrage begin...

[Visarend]

My 2 cents...
Oyster, once named the Rolls Royce of the sailing ships, went broke after their latest flagship capsized with a fallen keel in a flat Mediterranean sea.
As for my boat, when 35 years ago I obtained my hull from the producer, a hull meant with integral GRP keel, I had to dig out from the hollow some two tons of assorted metal scraps and nails, and replaced them with lead ingots in epoxy resin. Expensive, but effective. When years later in Corsica a probably drunk ferry captain drove us towards the rocks, and we hit them, only slight cosmetic damage was done - and easily repaired.