Paul Oman wrote:
my suggestion would be a high pressure water jet - water blaster -enough pressure
and enough water and all the expanded rust would, I think, come off and fall out
of the trunk

Now that's a pretty good idea. The mess might be easier to deal with and
easier to avoid cutting away too much fiberglass.

Derek Lawler wrote:
I had thought of selling the boat as is and getting another. I happen to
love the design of this boat and its layout.

Well, it's a Halsey Herreshoff design.


... With the board up it seems to go in
water that seems impossibly shallow and is great for Keys back country
gunkholing.

Hush! Relatively few people appreciate the benefits of shallow draft, I
don't want all the best anchorages spoiled!


What I did think of doing is simply caulking in the keel, fixing it in place
and dealing with the problem after using is as a motor sailor for a while,
sailing mostly off the wind.

If you're going to do that, why caulk it? Just leave it.

... I also thought of simply using the keel as
inside ballast and welding a fin on the bottom of it. Does sound a bit
sloppy though.

Yep... and you'd have to "Rust Never Sleeps" on the stereo a lot.

Try the water jet idea... I regret not thinking of that myself... and if
all else fails, go ahead and cut the trunk out. That way you can rebuild
it properly, upgrade the pivot bearing & lifting gear, and really finish
up the job properly.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King