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Odd crack

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Ben
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1234 Posts

Initially Posted - 03/22/2010 : 13:59:02

Hi All,

When I pulled the boat out of the water last fall I noticed a horizontal crack in the fiberglass on my wing keel. It's about 12 inches long, on the verticle length of the wing keel, about halfway between the bottom of the hull and the wing itself, and is at the back of the port size of the keel.

I never hit anything last year, and even if I had, that seems like an odd place for impact damage (the trailing edge of the keel).

Any ideas how this could have happened? i don't remember having any mishap during launching or retrieving last year. This is a real head-scratcher for me. I'm hoping it's a minor repair, but the boat is currently in the shop having the crack looked at by a professional.

Anyway, i thought I'd ask here if anyone has seen or experienced something similar. And no, of course I didn't take pictures, because that would have been the smart thing to do.

Ben
Beneteau 361
Viking Kitty
Columbus, Ohio

Edited by - on

Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 03/22/2010 : 16:42:37

Professional eyes will beat "blind" amateur speculation every time, but I'll speculate that the keel is not actually "glassed", but just covered with a heavy layer of gelcoat. Thick gelcoat tends to shrink with age--the most common cause of spider cracks on decks. I'm thinking it shrank till it split. That's a lead casting under there--I doubt there's anything to worry about, and patching it should be simple.

Now let's see whether the pro says anything remotely similar...

Edited by - Dave Bristle on 03/22/2010 16:43:42

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2010 : 07:32:27

Yes, I agree that professional eyes are best (normally). I'll post what the professional has to say about it.

Edited by - on

Renzo
Admiral

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USA
621 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2010 : 10:02:15

Ben, A couple of days ago I noticed the same crack that you described on my keel, on the same side and in the same spot. (I also was too preoccupied to take photos on my phone camera.) I was planning on widening the crack with a Dremel tool and filling it with epoxy and repainting, but now I think I'll wait until you post what your pros have to say.
By the way, you didn't say what year your boat is but mine is an '84 which definitely, has an iron keel that is glassed in.

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Ben
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2010 : 10:10:49

Renzo, mine is an 87, and the wing keel was the after market conversion keel, which I'm pretty sure was lead and encased in fiberglass. I hope to hear something soon. In spite of this being busy season for the boat guy (bottom painting and all) he said I stand a good job of getting it back within two weeks, so I won't have long to wait for the phone call.

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John Russell
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
3444 Posts

Response Posted - 03/24/2010 : 12:21:39

I wonder if you'd find a lot of water if you were to drill a small hole in the bottom of the keel. I don't know what caused this problem but, the first thing that came to mind was that water found its way through relatively minor defect and the winter freeze thaw cycles led to the crack that eventually got big enough to notice.

Edited by - John Russell on 03/24/2010 12:22:31

Ben
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 03/31/2010 : 09:58:51

I just heard from the boat fixer guy. He opened up the crack in the fiberglass a bit and found some water in the immediate vicinity of the crack, so removed the "fill" to where there was no more water. He said the "fill" appears to have delaminated, which he thinks caused the crack, but could not give me a reason why that would happen. he called Catalina to inquire with them and they couldn't offer any suggestions.

fortunately it's a relatively inexpensive fix, and hopefully a permanent one. We'll see what it's like at the end of this year's season I guess. Let's hope the end of the season takes it's sweet time in reaching us. :-)

Edited by - on

Renzo
Admiral

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USA
621 Posts

Response Posted - 03/31/2010 : 17:16:22

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Ben 
fortunately it's a relatively inexpensive fix, and hopefully a permanent one. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
What was the suggested fix???

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Dave Bristle
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
10005 Posts

Response Posted - 03/31/2010 : 18:13:41

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Renzo
 ...mine is an '84 which definitely, has an iron keel that is glassed in.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">I don't think so... I believe the 84 was encapsulated lead, like my '85. The cast iron fin keels were the same shape, but all cast iron--no encapsulation (iron being less dense).

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Ben
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1234 Posts

Response Posted - 04/01/2010 : 09:57:00

Renzo, the fix is to shape that part of the keel that delaminated, then fiberglass over top of it, I guess. Basically replace whatever was damaged.

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.