- This topic has 14 replies, 7 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
Ewan,
Daylight through the bottom of your keel doesn’t have to ground you for the summer. No more than 2 days, actually, albeit unpleasant ones.
P424’s have an Achilles heel below the bilge sump, where the fiberglass isn’t strong enough to support the boat on a dry-dock block. If your yard blocked your boat up that way, it probably caused the ‘glass to crack back there. If that’s the location of the “daylight” problem you’re seeing, the fix is simple and quick. Grind down the bottom of the keel out to the sides (and up an inch or two) and all the way forward to the beginning of the ballast, just deep enough to erase the crack. It sounds like you’ll be through to the interior in that one spot (which I presume you’re seeing in the sump), but there may well be plenty of good fiberglass just beneath the surface forward of that. Leave that in place. Then build up layers of mat & roving to double the original thickness (adding maybe an inch to your draft). Brush on some bottom paint and go sailing.
Full disclosure: I paid a guy to do that job on Silverheels. Life’s just too short.
Have fun,
Tor
———————-
Silverheels, P-424 #17
——————
-
Ewan. I read Tor’s write up last year while my boat was on the hard and checked my keel bottom. It scared me to death. I was about 1/4 inch from taking water. I had a fiberglass pro grind out all the crack in the bottom and re-lay with bi-axel glass the length of the keel from the lead and everything up about 15 inches. I also had the bottom soda blasted to the glass and put several new epoxy barrier coats before the antifouling. Had major blisters. Yes all that was expensive but it feels good knowing I have a sound bottom now. As much as I seem to run aground I may have to do that every few years. I pulled the boat this February just to check it out before crossing the Gulf and everything was holding up well.
We are on our way to Cuba now.CharlieOneEighty #54 -
-
All,
Thanks for your responses. My fiberglass guy is going to seal the inside first and then likely grind away on the outside. Its going to be one hell of a messy job, but at least I’ll be able to removed all the junk from below – old cables, hoses etc. One thing that happened when she ran aground is the starboard tabbing on the ballast plug came away. Its all going to be tabbed up again with biaxial and epoxy. This is going to be stronger than new!
I’ll keep you posted as work progresses.
___
Admin | Pearson424.org
info@pearson424.org -
Update on progress!
We’re almost there with the repair – just a few more days to finish it up. Here is the updated photo. I have it on good authority that it holds water – I’ll be fitting a recessed garboard drain plug for cleaning the boat out.
My last activity before I get her mostly winterized will be to pressure wash the interior and remove all the years of gunk and dust that have found their way everywhere.
Attachments:
imagejpeg_0.jpg
-
-
-
-
This is not an unusual occurrence with these boats. The bottom of the keel was very thinly made and not reinforced where the molds went together. A bad blocking and you have a serious issue.
I repaired mine when I first got the boat and it was fine until it blocked wrong in Florida crushing the keel. The haul out after that, my friend Cory and I put 9 layers of biaxial cloth wetted out with thickened epoxy. At this point I could block the boat there but I still don't.
If you have a 424 and your bilge is constantly wet, you may very well have this issue.
For newbies: Always block the 424 at the front 18″ or so of the keel and the very back of the keel. All the part that sounds hollow when you rap on it leave unblocked.
That's my two cents.
PS. Haven't hear much from this site recently…
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.