Do these keel bolts need replacing?

[scottsmedley]

I have just bought a Santana22 of unknown age (suspect 23 years old).

I've heard the keel bolts need replacing on this every 30 years.
Can anyone tell me if these keel bolts look like they need replacing?



Thanks.

[Maren]

It's not so much the time but the conditions that make for needing to replace the bolts. If your bilge has historically cycled from wet to dry, that can be a bad sign as is just remaining wet.

There are a couple of things that concern me in photo. I don't see any sort of corrosion inhibitor and the bolts seems rusty. Neither are absolute indicators but they do concern me.

I'd start by looking on the outside of your boat, if possible. If you see rust weeping, that's a bad sign as you have a compromised seal and might can have crevice corrosion of the bolts making the appearance issue a moot point. If that's not a problem, try loosening one bolt and then tightening it. If it moves fairly easily, it's more likely the rust minor and or recent. Coat with an anti-corrosive coating, keep the bilge dry and sail on.

If not, you need to figure out where on the risk spectrum you are. You don't have to replace it and in fact it probably does not make sense if you do mostly day sails in goodish weather.

Hope that helps,

[delmarrey]

From what I see, I certainly would not get out of the sight of land. That much rust is not good.

[robert sailor]

Are the keel bolts stainless or regular steel?