Let’s Do It Ugly!
Some of our early readers may remember THIS STORY by Craig Coulsen about the original S&S 30, DEFIANCE. This week we received a follow up email that is slightly disturbing but well worth a read!
There is no nice or pretty way to confront this. But who has dropped the keel off their boat?
Sure, high aspect race keels seem to fall off fairly regularly and you might live in the secure notion that my boat is not one of those, but is that right?
Lots of you will have stainless steel bolts that have never seen oxygen for decades while sea water has slopped around the bilges.
You don’t see any cracks in the keel hull join so there is no movement or moisture, right? You don’t plan to go offshore anytime soon so it will be right in the bay. So, to be brutal, if you have not done it yet, up your swimming training!
Here we go.
Coming off
And what do we find?
Silicon bronze vs. stainless steel
The good stainless bolt
New Silicon bronze bolts
Going back on
Done!
So what was learnt?
The existing silicon bronze bolts were as specified by Sparkman and Stevens at build as confirmed by one of the build team (thanks Rohan)
Interestingly there were no bolts at the extremity of keel, perhaps to reduce damage in the heavy grounding.
The stainless bolts were added afterward, likely in the late 1970s. There was little evidence of water egress from the bottom and no obvious moisture in the keel hull join.
But one of the stainless bolts broke off in my hand. The original silicon bronze bolts appeared to be excellent condition and not replaced. New silicon bronze bolts replaced the old stainless steel bolts.
It was also interesting to see the genius of the Sparkman & Stevens engineering where the width of the actual bearing surface of the keel hull join is disguised in the hull shape.
So was the keel going to fall off? No.
Did the keel need removing? Yes
But in any event, I now know!
Do you?
And a huge plug for the team at RM Marine at Kettering for understanding the boat , the job and the materials.