keel crack

[berniekk]

Hello
I am new to the forum and I am looking at purchasing an O'day 40 that has a crack in the keel from running aground. It goes all the way around the keel horizontally. Was wondering if I should stay away.

[Nicholson58]

Have a surveyor work with you. Get drawings form Oday. Look for an Oday forum and learn how its built. It might be important or it might be cosmetic.

[Cheechako]

If the Oday has a bolt on keel, that may not really be a crack... just the caulking joint between the bolt on ballast and the hull. If it is a keel that is part of the hull , glass encapsulated ballast, then run!

[bstreep]

My guess is that it's a joint. Ours has the same. Have the surveyor check it out and give you advice.

[delmarrey]

It looks like it's been bleeding a bit. I'd check out the keel bolts as well.
A picture from farther away would be useful.

[avazquez]

If its the joint I wouldnt be to concerned. Check the original design

[psk125]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

It looks like it's been bleeding a bit. I'd check out the keel bolts as well.
A picture from farther away would be useful.

:Checking the keelbolts" is more than looking in the bilge where you can see the ends. Checking the keelbolts means removing or exposing them to see if there has been water incursion along their length, and (therefore) any corrosion or other damage.. This is important because corroded or damaged bolts can lead to the keel falling off. (see " Drum".) Depending upon how the bolts were installed, this can mean having to entirely remove the keel by taking off all the nuts and hoisting the boat, hoping the keel comes away from the hull without too much additional convincing. If problems are evident, it is a good thing to have done: they will need fixing. If no problems are apparent, you just spent a lot of money for nothing, and will have to spend a good bit more to have everything put back together, hoping the job your workers do is at least as good as what was there before.
Most people examine the keel-hull joint for signs of "issues" (why it would be good to get a wider-angle photo of the longer joint, as suggested) and check to make sure the nuts in the bilge are good and tight. If there has been a grounding it also makes sense to check the top trailing edge of the keel where it meets the hull, to see if there's been compression cracking (or repairs!) there. Nice clean threads on the bolt tops are better than rusty ones, too, along with broad washers or backing plates to spread the loads. It these areas seem "ok", most people leave it at that. Keels are generally attached with hefty safety margins. You don't actually hear about that many falling off, and so unless there are real suspicions of trouble, inspecting the keelbolts is something you leave for the next owner to take care of.

[Mike OReilly]

Assuming it is a bolted on keel, then as others have said, it's probably not a big deal. Up here all our boats come out every year. I would guess at least 1/2 the boats show a similar crack line. Comes from the (hopefully) slight flexing between the bolted on keel and the hull stub.

• Confirm you have a bolted keel. As Cheechako says, if it is an encapsulated keel, run!
• Check the bolts. Look for any signs of corrosion or water intrusion, or even looseness of the nuts. If you can reach the bolts, you might be able to snug them down yourself.

If the boat has had a hard grounding, and you see serious signs of water intrusion, corrosion, or actual flex in the keel when it is hanging from the travel lift, then you might meet to get into the big job of removing the keel and checking the bolts. But that is a big job. Stories of keels falling off due to faulty bolts are rare.