Frank Gerry wrote:
While people are on this subject..... would anyone care to give their advice
when they think a keel should be rebedded?

If you can feel any motion of the keel, then it should be removed,
rebedded, and rebolted.


I have a Cal 28 with a bolted on fin keel. About 5 years ago I grounded the
boat. It was nothing serious, but over time the keel has shown more and more
signs of movement.

Probably doesn't have much... possibly not anything... to do with the
grounding. It's the nature of the beast.

... Initially the crack between the keel and the fiberglass
stub extended back about 1 foot from the front of the keel on the port side.
The second year it was about two feet and so on. This year the crack extends
the length of the keel and I'm thinking I need to have it done now.

Yeah, if you've got a crack the whole length of the keel root you chould
have done it years ago. You're sailing on borrowed time! Think about the
impulse loading of the keel root when it thunks from side to side, every
time you go over a wave.

OTOH you've got it better than some people, whose keel bolts are
inaccessible under solid fiberglass; or people with encapsulated keels
that might also get wobbly over the years, or have a keel root that is
getting wobbly. It's all fixable but it's also a PITA... costs money too.


When I'm sailing, I live by the motto "If you THINK it's time to reef, It's
time!" I'm wondering if I should do the same for the keel.

Short answer: yes!

Fresh Breezes- Doug King