I have a 56 Penn Yan Captivator that I worked on for several years.
The entire hull below the spray-rail was West-system epoxied, because
there was substantial rot in the ribs and floor that we didn't want to
deal with (the boat was given to me, it was my first restoration
project). A couple of summers ago, the keel, which is scarfed in
several places, separated from the hull under load at one of the scarf
joints, creating a leak at the level of the middle bench-seat. The
leak is minor when going at trawling speed, but getting up on plane
allows in about a quart every 5-10 minutes. The keel was screwed onto
the hull through the west-system-covered hull. We tried
through-bolting the 2 sides of the scarf joint into the inner keel
piece to "cinch" the joint back up, but to no avail. I know there is
considerable flex at this point of the hull (not a great place for a
joint).

I am wondering if anybody has a relatively simple fix for this sort
problem. My thought was to clean out the joint, epoxy in a biscuit to
bond the scarf together, then place a 8-10 foot long metal plate along
the length of the keel across this joint to keep it from flexing open
as much under load. Then caulk the heck out of the joint and hope the
reduced flex will minimize the leak. I don't necessarily want a great
cosmetic job, and I am prepared to have a small amount of leakage, but
want to minimize the leakage as much as possible and have it
structurally more sound than it is at present.

Thanks for any suggestions.