Retorquing keel bolts bedded in epoxy

[brownoarsman]

My Pearson 28-1.2 has a small smile on the leading edge of the keel - but no rust drip lines or anything like that that would indicate that the bolts themselves are exposed. The previous owner faired the joint every year, but I figured I might as well check the keel bolt torque while she's on the hard.

The only issue with this is that the keel bolts are bedded in epoxy below the nuts (a big no no according to Casey as now one can't see if water is coming through the bolts), but not actually encapsulated in epoxy around the nuts themselves. None of the online references mention this particular situation, but can I torque the nuts down on top of the epoxy? Unfortunately, the Pearson 28 Yahoo group has shut down, so I don't know any other owners I can ask who have done this.

Also - should I back the nuts off first to free them, if needed and eliminate break-away torque, or should I just get after them with the torque wrench? Thanks, as always, for the help.

[s/v Jedi]

How can you see below the nuts? A picture would help...

[brownoarsman]

Hi Jedi - sorry for the delay, work has had me on the road the past couple of weeks and working the weekends, so I haven't had a chance to get back to the boat yet. This image here looks sort of like my keel bolts, but instead of that thin lip of sealant under the washer, I have a fairly thick pad of epoxy extending about a centimeter beyond the edge of the washer all around.

Also - this table is usually posted in response to keel bolt torque questions: Steel Bolt Torque Specifications Table - Engineer's Handbook but I haven't heard anyone mention what type of steel keel bolts are typically made of - could you point me to the most likely type please? Thanks!

Dan

[s/v Jedi]

Epoxy? Or fiberglass? If you can't identify the type of bolts then maybe you can ask a Pierson owners club or something? I would gamble for a grade 5 otherwise but have no clue what is normally used for keelbolts.

[brownoarsman]

Thanks for your help Jedi - after wiping the threads and dosing the nuts with a couple of drops of PB blaster, the nuts backed off easily. It turns out the fellow next to me has the same size bolts from Catalina, and they recommended a torque of 105 ft/lbs, so I went ahead and used that. It was decently hard to get them to that torque, but not in a way that made me think I was in danger of breaking anything. Faired the smile with thickened epoxy, and I guess we'll wait and see how she does.

Thanks again for the help!