I've seen boats where the keel does not go all the way to the bottom,
and even the encapsulation of a solid material allows for water to
collect on the bottom. About two years ago, a guy next to me in the
marina had a Hunter, he drilled a hole on the bottom of his keel to le
the water drain out. Only he drilled a hole too small. Ii'd warn
against drilling a small hole--if you drill a hole, drill one big
enough to let things drain out and some air to go through. A small
hole clogs up. Also, if you have a void you'll have to fill, you'll
have to work on the hole, and possibly drill more holes to fill it in.
So, let's assume that your center/weight is fine. It's possible a bit
of the lead broke off and fell down. If you can move it with your
finger then:
1) it's probably not enough weight to make a difference, and
2) your hole is probably big enough.
Here's my two cents on fixing:
1) find out how big the void is. Tap with a hammer, and drill. Don't
be afraid to drill--the repair will be as strong as the original
material, or at least close enough to it.
2) once you've identified the void area, you probably have drilled
enough holes to let it dry out. I'd say a hole every two inches is not
too many holes.
3) let it dry out. A moisture meter would help; yoru local surveyor or
fiberglass shop may let you borrow one; it's not worth buying (they'rd
about $350 starting). Alternatively, tape small pieces of plastic on
several places along the area. If when you get back, there is moisture
on the inside of the plastic then the thing's not dry yet. When
you're sure its dry (best leave it for the season!), proceed.
4) fill in the void. First, close off all the holes but the bottom
most one. Insert some tubing on the bottom hole. Remove the tape from
each of the other holes and blow through the tubing. The idea is to
make sure this is one continuous void you'll be filling--if air does
not flow out of one hole, then that is not part of the same void.
Other drill more holes, or identify the next void. Also, buy some
empty caulk tubes (I know West Systems sells some) When satisified,
thicken up some epoxy with microfibers or whatever your epoxy provider
sells for structural repairs. Thicken it enough that you can load up
your caulk tube. Remvoe the tape, and starting from the bottom hole,
fill in your void. As the epoxy reaches a higher hole, tape it over
(use "preservation tape" if possible) and continue filling until you
have filled the void to the topmost hole. Do not use the fast hardener
for the epoxy, unless you do this in the dead of winter. You will
likely leave this a day or so and come back to it, so use a medium
hardener. The slow is often too slow, but if it's 100 degrees out the
slow will do too. Do not worry about making the outside pretty at this
point. Remember the trick here is to fill the void from the bottom
up...fill it from teh top down and you'll get air pockets.
5) when all's set, tap it with a resin hammer to make sure you have no
voids left. If you do, repeat the process. (the new void would be
smaller.)
6) when you're satisfied, the rest is making it pretty. I'll assume
there is no gelcoat here. If there is, post back or email me. Sand
down the holes with the epoxy which will no doubt be pouring out at
this point. If you're satisfied with the smoothness when the epoxy is
flush with the rest of the keel, then proceed to step 8. If not, then
sand down below the level of the rest of the keel--feel free to sand
down a larger area--all this will do is provide a greater surface area
for the epoxy to stick to. This is _necessary_ if you use
poly/vinyl-ester resins rather than epoxy. Make sure you dewax
_before_ you sand.
7) thicken up some epoxy with their "fairing filler". Thicken it
pretty well so it will not run down the vertical surface. Then put it
on the holes you just sanded, making sure it sticks up above the level
of the keel. This stuff sands down easily, so don't hold back. In
theory, you should be able to get it pretty fair with just applying it,
but I've never been that lucky. Also, remember that epoxy shrinks just
a bit when it kicks, so make sure you load up above the level of the
keel. When thsi is kicked, sand it down until it's fair. "fair" is in
the eye of the beholder, but i fyou have a small area it should be
pretty easy.
8) this is icing on the cake. If you look at your faired area, you'll
see that there are small holes in the epoxy. This is the way it is.
You can fix this, and also provide a better water barrier by painting
on unthickened epoxy or, better yet, epoxy with water barrier additive.
(The latter has instructions on how much to use.) Wash down the old
epoxy to remove amine blush, sand down a little bit, and just paint on
with a disposable brush. It will drip, but you'll just sand that down
in the end to make it fair.
9) you're done. Put on your bottom paint.
As for the impact damage, the procedure is the same as above, except of
course that you do not fill in the void; instead you plaster on the
thickened epoxy. Make sure you sand/grind and grind again--grind
enough to make sure that you have gotten rid of any bad fiberglass.
The fiberglass should look smooth and homogeneous. If you see any
white spots, grind further. IF the end result is less than about 6
inches, and not more than 1/2 your thickness, then a
structurally-filled epoxy willwork. If not, you'll have to lay
glass--which you seem to have done already.
This is nicely outlined in Don Casey's book, "Sailboat Hull and Deck
repair" ISBN 0070133697
amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...20927?v=glance
I'd recommend getting this--you'll have the time to wait for shipping
while the keel dries. It has very good illustrations which will do
what my message failed to convey.
Third to last: this may sound daunting, but it's not. If you're
interested in doing your own work, can shoot a caulk gun, you should be
able to do this work. The boatyard will probably charge you too much.
second to last: Epoxies come in all varieties. West System is the
most common, and its' a good epoxy. Due to funky ratios, West Systems
is best used with measuring pumps. Some others are equally good, but do
not necessarily require measuring pumps. In my experience, if the
ratios are easy (e.g. 2:1), then a pump is less necessary, provided you
are mixing up a quantity that would fill up at least half your
measuring cup. This minimizes errors. If you are beginning with
epoxy, get the pumps. And for crying out lout, wear gloves and a mask.
You'll be spending enough on mixing cups and epoxies, and I bet you
sand down your bottom paint every now and then. The paper masks don't
do anything. get something similar to the 3m 6291:
http://www.natlallergy.com/allergy_r...ion-masks.html
the P95/P100 filters are good for sanding (including your bottom). For
applying epoxy in open environments you won't need a vapor cartridge,
but if you do any work inside then the vapor cartridges are necessary
as well. The only benefit to not wearing these is less work for your
embalmer.
Lastly: This is, of course, my opinnion. Every job can be done three
different ways, and I'm sure others in this group have equally good or
better options. I hope they share them.
Cheers
mickey