Cracks in front of the keel?

[Mat86]

Hello.

Once again looking for some good advice
I ben told by two surveyor's that this was just flaws when molding back in the days, nothing to worry about.
I can press down a stanleyknife about 4mm in some places..

The bottom is about 2-3 inch thick, the keel is bolted on, but covered in grp from the factory. (as the last picture shows).

What do you guys have to say about that ?
- It's in front of the keel.
Wouldn't there be more signs around the keel, if it has happened from running on ground?


All the best
and happy sailing

[Sailmonkey]

That’s a thick layer of resin with little to no glass in it. The builder or someone later chose to cover the keel bolts/nuts with thick resin to “protect” them.

This isn’t molding flaws, this resin was poured post molding. The cracks form when the resin cures too thick with no glass structure.

I’m not a fan of covering keel bolts....it’s like the ostrich keeping its head in the sand.....can’t see it so it must be fine.

[sailor_ed]

I agree with sail monkey.

This looks an awful lot like a Galaxy 32 I once owned. What sort of boat is this?

[barnakiel]

I am not sure without thorough cleaning of the whole area one can tell what's going on there. In the images, I can see no signs of any serious damage, but I know old paint etc. can cover more damage lurking under.

My say is do not worry. But do remove all old paint and clean the area very very well. Dry it. Investigate.

As others said, bolts do not need to be covered when the boat is dry and kept clean.

When keels fall off, often it is bad bolts that are the trigger.

Cheers,
b.

[Dave22q]

If a thorough inspection of the hull at the keel does not show issues I would not consider grounding damage. The keel/hull joint should tell the story.

[notiesbob]

I'd be replacing those old school, shore bound gate valves too.

[Sunday Driver]

Another thought. Stainless steel (keel bolts) can corrode in the absence of oxygen. Those bolts have been encapsulated for who knows how long. It may be a good idea to expose them so they can be inspected.

[blueazimuth]

Bilges always collect some water and are never really dry, except perhaps in metal boats. Stainless does corrode without oxygen, but only if always immersed in water - that's why the keel bolts are glassed over.

Subject to what your surveyors say,
I see no problems with the "cracks" on the leading edge of the keel. Imho they are not cracks - they are often seen on older boats and it's quite possible that old/original fairing compound lost its adhesion and fell out. Grind down, dry out, fill and glass over.
Check at next haulout.

[minaret]

If that's a crack I see in the 2nd pic down, starting in the middle and going towards the top left of the picture, and you can insert a razor 4mm into said crack, there is a problem. Time for serious cleaning and exploratory grind, or at least blue metal die to find all the cracks.


I also see two shades of white there. Looks suspiciously like a failed repair.

Also, this will be a cast iron keel in a recess. You can see the molded in recess clearly in the third pic. This means damage of this sort is much more likely than it would be in a different design. Lots of red flags for just a few pics. I'd drop that keel, it should be a fairly easy one to do. Failing that at least grind off all coatings around the inside of the keel recess for proper inspection. Anything else is conjecture. Find better surveyors who stay away from conjecture. No way to know for sure without an exploratory grind, which shouldn't be a big deal. Just take a die grinder to the crack and grind till its gone. If they are sure it's not a deep crack and just a molding error, they should be ok with it! My money says that IF you can insert a razor 4mm, this crack is at least three times that deep. Likely to be most or all the way through the hull if that's the case.

[hamburking]

Encapsulating stainless steel bolts is a bad idea. A VERY bad idea.

I'd like to see the hull to keel joint from the OUTSIDE of the boat. Cracks at the forward end are common, and usually just cosmetic, like your surveyor said. Cracks at the aft end of the hull to keel joint are more serious, and an indicator of a hard grounding where the glass has been crushed as the keel tries to pivot.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by blueazimuth

Bilges always collect some water and are never really dry, except perhaps in metal boats.

Stainless does corrode without oxygen, but only if always immersed in water - that's why the keel bolts are glassed over.

(...)

I will somewhat disagree.

Our boat (grp) has a deep bilge that is bone dry. And many (not all) of the grp boats that I have sailed or managed had dry bilges.

The only boats I found to have partly wet bilges were in wooden boats.

I think you may also agree that water is far more likely to get to the bolts from the outside. And with bolts glassed over, you will not see water seeping in, nor any rust stains. Thus glassing the bolts over may effectively remove your options for spotting trouble early on.

Regards,
barnakiel