wheeldriver
Seaman
- Joined
- May 29, 2012
- Messages
- 50
![](http://i1023.photobucket.com/albums/af352/dozerII/V5/Salt%20001_zpsyd4ntfgl.jpg)
My two cents on that keel guard is you might consider leaving it off. That thing has been a problem when a rivet loosens and starts to leak at a rib location for many people including myself. I found the problem is rivets at the rib/keel guard locations are going through 3 layers of aluminum and spaced 3 and 4 inches apart, its a lot to ask for a lonely rivet over time. Gluvit on the outside of the rivet wont solve a leak problem at those rib locations, water fills the keel guard and then travels up the leaking rivet shaft and leaks into the boat between the rib and the aluminum hull. In my research on the subject I came across 2 threads of people that have talked to starcraft about their guard leaking, heres one leaking keel guard post 5. In it someone talked to starcraft about it and they said it has no structural need, its there for those that want to beach there boat. The second one (I can't find the thread) but someone spoke to a engineer at starcraft and he said they have admitted it is a faulty design and don't make boats like that anymore.
During my leak test I had a leaking rivet or rivets on my keel guard. Impossible to determine which rib rivet was the problem, I said the heck with this and pulled it off and never looked back. I've thought about putting on a after market rubber keel guard but never have.
Add to it what is your skill level at installing solid rivets, also those old holes are no longer freshly drilled holes with clean inside walls. Again just my two cents. Hope you have no more surprises with the V5. I'm looking forward to the finished product.