Keel Repair

[emarshbuck]

This is a 2" crack directly on my keel. My two neighbors, who have owned/operated boats for years, came over and opened it up maybe a 1/4" to confirm it was not any bigger, tapped on the hull, and it sounds solid. They both recommended a product called Marine-Tex. Meanwhile, I have an appt next week with the man who bottom coated it 2 years ago who said he can test it with a x-ray like device to check the hull and give me a price. The boat has been in a dry slip for months and I know that it's completely dry in the crack.

Suggestions? Should I try to DIY with the help of my neighbors. One of them owned boats on Lake Michigan for years, the other head of the marine division of Lee County, FL, sheriff's dept.

 

[alldodge]

Fixing cracks is not hard, just takes prep work. You do want it to be dry and a moisture meter will tell you that once its opened up

 

[Mad Props]

From my point of view, it appears to be a structural issue (the crack goes the whole way thru). I wouldn't rely on a filler type material to fix it. Your best bet is to grind out the crack and feather out the grinding a few inches around the damaged areas. I'm assuming you don't have access from inside. I would use several layers of 1708, slightly bigger with each layer to feather out the patch, then top with 2 layers of CSM bigger yet. Then once the build is back to the original hull thickness, sand and feather out the repair and top with gelcoat.

 

[MTboatguy]

I would crack it open a bit further to see exactly what kind of damage you have there. Rebuilding is not that difficult, but you want the patch to be larger than the damage, you want to make sure it is dry when you make the repair. Then you just rebuild the layers of fiberglass and put new gel coat in that area

 

[Woodonglass]

do you have access to the cracked area from the inside of the boat? This is a fairly simple repair that you and your neighbors should easily be able to accomplish