Botched up the keel
 

"Ree-Yees" wrote in message
.. .

By slow pace I mean barely moving

Either your definition of barely moving is a lot faster than mine or your
boat was very weak (it is possible that there is an issue with the
fiberglass around that area) or the dock has a very shart edge to it!

I nuzzle the bow up to docks all the time and I have never caused damage
like that. I can't quite make out the details (picture is a bit out of
focus) but it appears that there is significant damage over about a 4 inch
area, and then a few inches higher it looks like there is evidence of
previous dock encounters. Perhaps this previous damage allowed water to
saturate the inner layers and caused blisters and/or delamination.


Seems to save alot of time

When you factor in the time its going to take to fix this you may find
that the time savings goes negative....

versus pulling up to the side of the dock, roping it off, back end
swinging out cause im not fast enough, having to pull all around and do it
again till I get it roped at the dock. Im not the best docker :-)

You should learn to dock the boat! If you do it right, you should be able
to just bring the boat up along side the dock and have it barely touch. Set
fenders out ahead of time and the boat will never touch the dock. If you
aren't boucning off the dock you should have plenty of time to get out and
tie the ropes unless there is a significant current or one heck of a wind.



With the guard I could just pull up to the ramp and let it bump the ramp
then get out.

No, I don't think that is going to work for you!

The keel gaurds work great on very small boats. I have on on my dinghy that
protects the bottom when I pull it up on the beach. It can help on a
runabout for beaching it onto soft sand. I sure wouldn't count on it to
provide adequate protection on a concrete ramp. For one thing, if there is
any significant weight transfered to the keel guard the boat will tip to one
side and then the chine is grinding into the concrete. For another, you
will be very shallow and your prop will be in harms way.

Besides, I would not consider it proper launch ramp etiquette to block the
ramp for the purpose of loading/unloading passengers.


Yeah Im not too sure its supposed to go up that high either but I got to
fill in that gouge with something! And then that sure would nicely cover
it
up.

You have some significant repair to do there. As I said above, if that much
damage was done by hitting a dock at a dead slow speed then it may idicatate
that the area was already compromised. If this boat is worth a lot then it
would be in your best interest to have it repaired properly. I am not sure
where this is in relation to the water line, but if you don't get a good
water tight repair then you could end up saturating the inner core with
water and causing all sorts of problems down the road (does it freeze in the
winter where you are?).



I can take winch cable off and the boat doesnt move.

Let the cable out a foot or two and see if you can slide the boat back.
Caution! Either have the trailer coupled to a tow vehicle or set blocks
under the back of the trailer! When you slide the boat back the tongue
weight can go negative!

If the boat won't just slide back then I would use jacks and blocks to lift
the boat off the trailer just enough to slide the trailer forward enough to
get enough room to work.


Rod

Botched up the keel
 

There is definitly no proper etiquette at the dock by my house :-( It is
like a savage land of beats out there. People will back their boat into the
water and stay right there and open up the engine compartment and start
working on it. Last weekend the TWRA pulled up with soem drunk guy sideways
and blocked anyone from leaving ot entering the ramp. Someone finally blew
their horn and shouted over to them and they moved their boat out of
everyones way.

I agree that I need to dock the boat better and that using the keel guard to
bump the dock intentionally would be a bad plan. However, I think that if I
were to have had the guard that I wouldnt have the damage that I have now.

The big busted area is probably 1 inch across and 3 inches long. Im not
sure if the area above was done by me at the same time or already there. It
is not a blister under the surface but a pushed in place that wasnt strong
enough to break the paint.

I bought some epoxy to fill in the gaps and to keep it from peeling or
getting worse and a white keel guard to cover the area up.

Since my trailer has a beam coming down the middle how will I put a jack in
the middle with the block on top to jack it up? Ive never jacked a boat up
before.

Thanks!
--C

"Rod McInnis" wrote in message
...

"Ree-Yees" wrote in message
.. .

By slow pace I mean barely moving

Either your definition of barely moving is a lot faster than mine or your
boat was very weak (it is possible that there is an issue with the
fiberglass around that area) or the dock has a very shart edge to it!

I nuzzle the bow up to docks all the time and I have never caused damage
like that. I can't quite make out the details (picture is a bit out of
focus) but it appears that there is significant damage over about a 4 inch
area, and then a few inches higher it looks like there is evidence of
previous dock encounters. Perhaps this previous damage allowed water to
saturate the inner layers and caused blisters and/or delamination.


Seems to save alot of time

When you factor in the time its going to take to fix this you may find
that the time savings goes negative....

versus pulling up to the side of the dock, roping it off, back end
swinging out cause im not fast enough, having to pull all around and do
it
again till I get it roped at the dock. Im not the best docker :-)

You should learn to dock the boat! If you do it right, you should be able
to just bring the boat up along side the dock and have it barely touch.
Set
fenders out ahead of time and the boat will never touch the dock. If you
aren't boucning off the dock you should have plenty of time to get out and
tie the ropes unless there is a significant current or one heck of a wind.



With the guard I could just pull up to the ramp and let it bump the ramp
then get out.

No, I don't think that is going to work for you!

The keel gaurds work great on very small boats. I have on on my dinghy
that
protects the bottom when I pull it up on the beach. It can help on a
runabout for beaching it onto soft sand. I sure wouldn't count on it to
provide adequate protection on a concrete ramp. For one thing, if there
is
any significant weight transfered to the keel guard the boat will tip to
one
side and then the chine is grinding into the concrete. For another, you
will be very shallow and your prop will be in harms way.

Besides, I would not consider it proper launch ramp etiquette to block the
ramp for the purpose of loading/unloading passengers.


Yeah Im not too sure its supposed to go up that high either but I got to
fill in that gouge with something! And then that sure would nicely
cover
it
up.

You have some significant repair to do there. As I said above, if that
much
damage was done by hitting a dock at a dead slow speed then it may
idicatate
that the area was already compromised. If this boat is worth a lot then
it
would be in your best interest to have it repaired properly. I am not sure
where this is in relation to the water line, but if you don't get a good
water tight repair then you could end up saturating the inner core with
water and causing all sorts of problems down the road (does it freeze in
the
winter where you are?).



I can take winch cable off and the boat doesnt move.

Let the cable out a foot or two and see if you can slide the boat back.
Caution! Either have the trailer coupled to a tow vehicle or set blocks
under the back of the trailer! When you slide the boat back the tongue
weight can go negative!

If the boat won't just slide back then I would use jacks and blocks to
lift
the boat off the trailer just enough to slide the trailer forward enough
to
get enough room to work.


Rod

Botched up the keel
 

"Keel" is the correct spelling, but that's your stem. (STEM - in lower case
it looks a lot like STERN.)

People do repairs like this themselves all the time. Doing it well I think
requires some experience and attention to detail.

I hire someone, and I know someone good. Not cheap!

====

Charles T. Low
- remove "UN"
www.boatdocking.com/BDPhoto.html - Photo Contest
www.boatdocking.com
www.ctlow.ca/Trojan26 - my boat

====

"Ree-Yees" wrote in message
...
Me oh my. I was coming in to the dock at a slow pace and the current kind
of picked up as I jumped out to stop the boat and it scraped on the keel
some. Is keel the correct spelling?

http://home.comcast.net/~ree-yees/keel1.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~ree-yees/keel2.jpg
...
But what do I get to fill in the holes that I just made so that it doesnt
peel or get worse?

Botched up the keel
 

"Keel" is the correct spelling, but that's your stem. (STEM - in lower case
it looks a lot like STERN.)


The photo I saw showed the product applied to the keel as well as the stem.

Vertical (raked) portion = stem
Horizontal portion = keel

Or so I would say.

I think the name of the product is a "keel guard" and that's the source of the
OP's terminology. :-)

Botched up the keel
 

"Ree-Yees" wrote in message
...



Since my trailer has a beam coming down the middle how will I put a jack
in
the middle with the block on top to jack it up? Ive never jacked a boat
up
before.


If your trailer has rollers you might be able to just roll the boat back a
little bit. I would try blocking the trailer really well (from rolling and
tipping) and then use a "come-along", secured to some sturdy anchor point
(like the bumper of another car) and to the rear tow eyes on the boat. Just
loosen the bow strap to assure that once the boat starts moving it doesn't
keep rolling on off the trailer!

If you have bunks, then it would be better to jack the boat up. It is a lot
easier if you have a floor jack but you can do it with bottle jacks. The
back of the boat is easy as the bottom is usually flat. Set a board between
the jack and the hull so that you don't mess up the hull. Jack the boat up
just enough to clear the trailer then set blocks in place. Set the boat on
the blocks and then move to another spot.

Towards the front of the boat it can be more difficult because the curve of
the hull will want to kick the jack out. Not so bad on a floor jack but
bottle jacks can be quite unstable. One trick that usually works is to use
two jacks and tie the tops of the jacks together with a length of chain.
This will keep the jacks from kicking out.

Rod