"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
anews.com...

"Edgar" wrote in message
...

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
anews.com..
.
If you fear keel bolts then go with an encapsulated keel.

Encapsulated keels are still held on with bolts 'Wilbur'


Maybe that's what it means in Jolly Ole England but on this side of the
Pond an encapsulated keel is ballast inside a keel which is an integral
part of the hull. Usually chunks of lead or pig iron held in place with
concrete or resin.

Wilbur Hubbard

Yes, you are right. We are not talking the same language. What you describe
is certainly an encapsulated keel.
However my boat also has an encapsulated keel which in this case is a lead
keel held on with bolts and then covered with GRP enabling a really smooth
outside finish.
Often this is done to iron keels and the GRP also stops the iron from
rusting, (that is until you ground on something that splits the GRP and
allows the rust to start creeping up between the keel and the GRP).

I once boarded a small keelboat with 'your' type of encapsulated keel and
she heeled over so much I thought I was about to take a swim. She was
supposed to have 8 or 9 cwt of iron inthe keel.
I persuaded the owner to let me cut open his keel from inside the cabin and
found there was no iron there at all-the space in the keel was just filled
with foam! No wonder the builder went bust.
I raked out all the foam and put in 8 cwt of pig iron and glassed it in and
she instantly became a different boat to sail. The owner was a novice sailor
and did not realise that the boat was not supposed to sail to windward
heeled down to the gunwhales. (or even 'gunnels')