I have look at the pictures. They do not tell me much.
What type of keel do you have: lead, cast iron, fiberglass encapsulated.
Lead and cast iron keel are not much of a problem when it come to a 1"x3"
hole.
They are two type of fiberglass encapsulated, one type is made out of a
spitted mold and the inside filled with solid lead or some any other solid
material is used for weight.
The other type of encapsulated keel uses lead pellets for weight of any
other loose material.
When you punched in a hole in a encapsulated keel you have to drill small
diameter holes around the puncture area to dry the fiberglass. It take
about one Saison to get the water out completely.
Otherwise, the water will wick into the fiberglass hull and cause structural
damage at a later time. Without knowing what type of keel and boat you have
I can only speculate.

"joeb" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hello. I was hoping that I could get some advice on repairing
fiberglass on a damaged keel. I was out on Lake Erie and lost my engine
and ended up slamming into the breakwall a few times before getting a
tow. It put a 1"x3" hole in the side of my keel. I've read up on
fiberglass repair, including the book "The Fiberglass Boat Repair
Manual."

My question is this... The flat bottom of the keel was not very
accessible, so I just wrapped the fiberglass around and under the keel.
Is this going to cause me any long term problems? Ideally, I would've
ground out around the bottom like I did the top, but I just couldn't
get access without lifting the boat off the trailer.

----------------------------------|
\ (keel) /
\ /
\--------|xxxxx|-----/

(damaged area is the xxxx's)

The boat is old and cosmetics aren't important. I just want a sound,
safe repair. I've applied about 5-6 layers of 6 oz. fiberglass cloth
w/Mas Resin & Fast Hardner. I'd rather not grind it all down and start
over if it's good enough as is.

Pictures of the repair can be found @
http://csilo.com/randomphotos.aspx?f...og/boatrepair/

Thanks for your advice,
Joe