I agree, although a depleted uranium keel is even better than lead...

Cheers MC

Simple Simon wrote:


Bolting keels to a fiberglass hull is the best
way to do it. What you have on your inferior
boat is a hull molded in the shape of a keel
with lead if you're lucky, and concrete if
you aren't placed into the hollow hull-shaped-
like-a-keel.

A bolted-on lead keel is the best choice with
a bolted-on cast iron keel second in line. The
hull must be engineered to manage the forces
involved, however. This is not very hard for
an engineer to design. It's only the racers
that are built as light as possible that seem
to have problems with fin keels breaking off.

S.Simon




"Thom Stewart" wrote in message ...

Oz,

Are you sure about bolting to a stub?
I almost didn't buy my present boat because it had no visable keel
bolts. I assumed they were buryed. Being use the doing all the
maintenance on the leaking keel bolts I wasn't sure of how to take care
of the problem. My Broker laughed at me. He said my keel will never have
bolt leaks because the whole keel is part of the hull. The light finally
went on.

Keels shouldn't be bolted to fibre Glass. It is a method that was
carried over from wooded construction. When a keel bolt works on
fibreglass there is no recovery and it will only get worse until you do
maintenance. Schooner Trash can confirm this. I know it. It is a
fault racers put up with to have the option of changing keels.

OT