Nutsy,

I guess its time to impart some knowledge to you.

In the early days of MFG Hulls, the keels were attached as they did to
the wooden hulls. They drilled holes in the fibre glass and bolted on
the keels. What happened as they aged the washers and nuts worked loose,
due to the lack of elasticity of the fibre glass. The obvious repair was
to tighten the nuts. This worked for a while but the fibre glass
continued to compress and leak, growing thinner. To get a dry bilge, new
holes where needed. Simple and least expense. Drop the keel, filling the
old holes then drill new holes in the area of solid fibre glass. Better
to move the keel forward an get weather helm than get lee helm. If the
keel didn't cause to much weather helm, the compensation was made in the
standing rigging.

This was a common problem in the early day of MFD. Particularly in the
boats built to compete in the lower price range. Later models reinforced
this area or/and buried the keel bolts and corrected the problem.

Michael Twin keeler suffered this problem. It is why he brought a new
boat. It didn't mean it wasn't a good boat. I believe it had more than
one trip around the world. It was just a point of wear that they over
looked. There are still plenty of leakers sailing out there yet.

Ole Thom