Fully take that story of the 5200 holding the keel up under consideration.
This is not a job you do often and once done right it may never have to be
done again.
So how long do you expect to keep this boat for? Are you sailing in an area
where hard grounding is a common occurence?
I had an 18year old Pearson once, a racy one, and it had 5200. Never leaked
a drop, nuts were never found loose, although the table wiggled a little
under
heavy loading. If you ever have to separate something with 5200 plan in
cutting right through 5200 and then sanding or even grinding it off (still
very hard to do).
When keels are installed they are not lifted into the boat, the boat sits
(is lowered) on the keel. Measure the area of the keels top flange and the
weight of the hull in pounds and square inches.
Multiply that by 150% (wiggling and flexing under load) and get a psi rating
for the bedding compound. Most silicone based sealants will not even handle
half that much fully cured.
i.e. 10000lb hull (weight - balast/keel) keel attachment area 40"x5"
average=200sq.inches. 10000lb/200sq.in = 50psi x 150% = 75psi
Will your household grade silicone goop handle that? Rememember you have
10-15 bolts that are tightened till your 1/2" 3' long wrench bends.
The compound should at least half way cure before you release the maximum
weight and tighten the keel bolts. If the bedding compound is not up to the
job it will deform, squize out and make a poor seal, while it will have
little flexibility left between keel and hull. If a big hand grabbed the
boats kill and try to shake the boat around the boat will remain attached.
If the same hand grabbed the masthead and try to wiggle the rest of the hull
off the mast, he would again fail. That is a true minimum integrity of an
ocean going boat.
Again, use 5200 for anything you have no intention of ever redoing. For
everything else use plumbers goop or what have you.
Inflatable dinghies. When they've reached the stage where they leak so much
it is not worth patching them, do your last patches with 5200 and see if it
ever leaks again.

All that said, I would use 5200 so the keel would break in half before the
seal will be jeopardized.

KoZ

? "Basil P" ?????? ??? ??????
...

I have to drop my keel after a hard grounding this past season. The
boat is a 34 fin keel boat with a glass keel sump that the keel is
bolted to. Lead keel, S.S. bolts 1". I have a couple of question.

Having never done this before I am looking for advice, not abuse. So
Glenn if you are listening...

What bedding compound should I use?

Should I leave the seal flexible? Or could I Glass over it with a
couple of layers of biaxial cloth and epoxy?

Any other tips would be great.

Thanks,