[Public-List] Exposed Iron Keel

[Rachel]

Yep, I found exposed iron keel on my boat.

In my case it was in great condition, showing no rust.  I think that 
was due to the fact that the bilge had been dry, and the boat used only 
for short seasons in a freshwater climate, then covered winters.  Of 
course I wanted to keep it that way!

In the end it would probably have been easiest to remove the entire 
sole, and the various plywood boxes and dividers that make up the 
sub-sole, but that's not how I tackled it. But if I were to do it 
again....

I cut out the bottoms of the "battery lockers," leaving an inch or so 
of ply all the way 'round to support new box bottoms later (which I 
planned to screw in, so I can remove them to inspect or clean the area 
beneath in future). I also trimmed the athwartships dividers between 
the sub-bilge sections, so that I could run continuous sections of 
cloth.

This was not fun task - mostly due to cramped access - but I ground 
down to fresh glass on the sides of the bilge for a few inches above 
the ballast, then encapsulated the ballast top and up the sides with 
layers of biaxmat saturated with epoxy.  The original fabric and resin 
used was not really up to the task, in my opinion.

That took care of the top.

As part of another little project, I excavated the entire "false bilge" 
that is aft of the ballast pig, in the depths of the bilge under the 
engine.  That consisted of a fiberglass top the PO had laminated on, 
plus the remnants of the original resin pour (unreinforced, so of 
course it cracked).  Beneath that was something like a 2 x 6, set on 
edge running between the after end of the pig, and the back end of the 
boat where the rudder and shoe are.  The 2 x 6 was surrounded by 
cement.

To back-track a bit, the ballast pig is not a "triangle" as they 
usually are.  I read that they took the mold used for the folkboat pig, 
which would have been a "triangle," and built it up about 8" with 
forms, then poured the pig for the A30. This makes sense as the after 
side is a flat, vertical slab about 8" tall.  The "false bilge," 
consisting of wood, cement, and a resin pour over the top made the 
whole thing one level slope, fore-and-aft.

Since I wanted to get a look at the pig, and since I could see that 
bilgewater/fuel/etc. had been allowed to seep into this area over the 
years, I dug it all out.  It's not at all structural.  The back of the 
pig was completely exposed in the wood/cement area.  Once I had it all 
cleaned up, I thought about whether to put it back or not.  I decided 
not to.  It makes a good "sump" and I just couldn't see any reason to 
put the false stuff back.

Instead, I made a little, custom-fit "wall" for the back of the ballast 
pig using the type of pre-made FRP board you can get at McMaster-Carr - 
I think I used 3/4"  or so - then I fiberglassed (over the whole thing, 
plus generous tabbing) the whole thing in with biaxmat, biaxial tape, 
and epoxy resin.  There!  :)

Let me know if I can clarify further.  I'm fairly well acquainted with 
the area :D

I also have to give credit to the person with an early hull number (37 
or so?) who had mentioned finding this same thing on his boat.  I found 
it by searching the archives.  It was very helpful to sort out what I 
was finding to be able to read about it.

Rachel
1967 Alberg 30, #221

PS I've seen at least one other A-30 with a garboard drain plug about 
10" up from the bottom of the hull, so the "false bilge bottom" must 
have existed on many (all?) of the boats.  It's typically hidden, of 
course.

On Jul 7, 2008, at 9:33 PM, James McRury wrote:

> Hi All
>
> While beginning to clean out the bilge in my A30 #124, I noticed that 
> the iron keel just aft of the main cabin bulkhead is mostly exposed, 
> with the 2 inches of tabbing around the edge of the exposed keel also 
> having separated from the keel.  I was unable to view the rest of the 
> keel aft of that (due to some time constraints). 
>
>   Shouldn't the keel be glassed in completely along the entire 
> length?  Has anyone else come across exposed keel?  It looks like the 
> original configuration, besides the detached, flaking fibreglass 
> tape/tabbing.. 
>
> Any suggestions to fixing this?  I'm thinking that the solution would 
> entail grinding away the flaking tape down to solid glass, and then 
> glassing in the top.  I'll admit that I'm a noob to all of this, so 
> any advice would be greatly appreciated.
>
> I can post pictures later this week after I take them (I won't be down 
> again until the weekend.)
>
> Thanks.
>
> James McRury
> #124.
>
>
>
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