Rebedding the keel stub The Catalina Smile w/flix

[Bobg]

I helped my friend on his cal 30 and when we re-faired the seam, we used G - Flex, sanded it smooth and painted it, the beauty of G Flex is that it doesn't harden to where it gets brittle and flakes out, allowing water to get in the joint, you see lots of boats in the Marina with that eroded line around the keel stub, that won't happen with G Flex. and no, I don't sell the stuff

[Indian Falls]

Bob:

Did you re-fare the seam with G Flex or rebed the joint with G Flex?

What's the working time of G Flex?  I needed about 90 minutes but I had about 8 hours with 5200.

How do you put rigid glass mat and epoxy over a flexible joint and not have cracks? 

What is an eroded line that you see in marinas? 

I would like to fare this joint next year as long as I can see no evidence of movement after this seasons sailing.

I'm imagining 5000 lbs of lead hanging at a 45 degree angle with only 6 inches between the lateral attachment points,  then add in the fact that we are bouncing up and over waves... there has got to be some spreading of that seam opposite the compression side... but I could be worried about nothing.

How big and heavy is the keel on a Cal 30?, how wide is the top of the keel?  How far apart are the bolts from each other? 

[Indian Falls]

I just read a bit about G flex epoxy from west systems and it seems that this would be the stuff to use when fairing over a flexible keel stub joint just like the one I created with .8 gal of 3m5200 between my keel stub and my lead keel.  The working time and viscosity don't make me feel like this stuff is a good choice for the bedding in my project.  But that's just me.

[Bobg]

  We ground out the keel stub parting line, (where the keel meets the boat) about 3/8 in wide groove down to the metal, (lead) of the keel to where we could see the parting line. then we built it up slightly bigger than the keel joint, sanded it down and painted it with bottom paint, we did not fiberglass over it.
you have about a hour to work it, we found out if we let it set mixed for 30 min or more, the consistancy would thicken so it wouldn't sag  during application.  We needed 3 applications to build the joint up enough to fair.
That eroded line was where the keel meets the stub, due to flexing of the keel, the fiberglass or whatever they used, started to flake out, kind of like the catalina smile, only you see some that circumvent the keel joint, and some that are intermittent.
After working on my friends boat, I am a little more aware of this keel joint on other boats now.
My friends Cal 30 was so bad that the boat started to sink when they splashed it, water was getting through the joint and up through the furthest (and hardest to see and get to)  keel bolt, taking on about 3" of water an hour in the bilge. The aft bolt  was so bad the nut was all but gone, the other 7 bolts were loose and the washers eroded away.  I helped him butyl seal the keel bolts, installed new washers and torqued the nuts. He really should have dropped the keel and rebedded, but as stu says "his boat his choice"
I don't know exactly how much the keel wieghs, he has a 5'7" draft, there are eight 3/4" bolts, I torqued them to 105 ft lbs, He is in the water now, bilge dry as a bone.
Anyway that is how the Marina mechanics said to do it, I just helped

[Indian Falls]

UPDATE:  so far no leaks from the keel bolt holes.  However I am now chasing minor leaks here and there that occur while sailing or idle in the slip.  At times the  stuffing box leaks more after running than it does when it's parked for a week in the slip.  I have mystery dribbles from the port side that trickle into the bilge while sailing on a starboard tack...... wait it was a port tack.... I don't remember!!

[Stephen Butler]

Our 1990 C34 started having small dribbles, but only occuring sometimes.  Frustrating.  Finally traced all of them down, including a cracked anchor well drain, a pin hole leak in the hot water heater, the rear water tank, and 5 or 6 other loose/cracked fittings.  We literally used a magnifying glass to see some of the cracking, as well as using some dyes in places, to see the intermittent drips.  Found many of the plastic/drain pieces had cracked.  Changing them was the easy part.

[Indian Falls]

It is the middle of the 3rd season after the rebedding project.

I still get mystery water in the bilge that is hard to determine it's origin.

Sometimes the stuffing box drips more times than others and on a starboard tack this water freely runs into the bilge.

I just checked the bilge today after 1 week unattended and 1 sailing excursion yesterday.

There is more water in the rear bilge compartment than the large one.  This compartment contains approx 1/8 cup of water and the rear possibly 1 cup.

I suspect it's water from the stuffing box.  We motored almost 2 hours last night.  There is no water in the basin below the stuffing box, but my evap sponge is wet.  There were 3-4 foot rollers out there and we pitched in all directions.
Inconclusive. 

I also put a stainless tray under the mast receptacle on top of the mast step to catch rain water coming down the mast.  The catch bucket for that is dry. That compartment is dry and the forward compartment is dry.

If I learn anything, I'll be sure to post here.

[Ron Hill]

Dan : I always found the if there is water in the aft bilge compartment and it is salty it's the stuffing bow.   
If it is fresh than it's from the water heater or a leak in one of the fresh water system hoses clamps.

A thought

[Indian Falls]

Final word on this project:

In August of 2014 we crossed lake Ontario in 35kts 5 to 6 foot waves for 6 hours.

The keel did not fall off nor did the joint spring a leak and the bilge remained dry.

At haul out the "smile" looked the same as the day we splashed after the repair.

I'd say it has passed the test.  Lastly I never faired the joint and I don't think I will.