I discovered this fall that the seemingly minor smile in my C34 was weeping rust. To make matters worse, I came back a couple of weeks later and found that it was (a) still wet, and (b) had a drip of orange bilge antifreeze on the leading edge of the keel.
I've already arranged with the yard to have the keel dropped + rebedded before launch, but now I'm agonizing over the "proper" way to re-bed it. I came across an earlier post that said Gerry Douglas recommended polyester or vinylester resin but I also read through a bunch of posts where people talked about using "Satan's glue" 5200. I can imagine both benefits and drawbacks to having a little flexibility.
So I want to know: if you ever had your keel dropped for repairs or inspection, what did you re-bed it with and how has it held up over time?
Alternately...am I going too far? Given it's a small crack that likely compromises only the frontmost bolt and there is ZERO evidence of grounding damage, I could just try to dry it, seal it inside + out, re-torque, and cross my fingers...
I've already arranged with the yard to have the keel dropped + rebedded before launch, but now I'm agonizing over the "proper" way to re-bed it. I came across an earlier post that said Gerry Douglas recommended polyester or vinylester resin but I also read through a bunch of posts where people talked about using "Satan's glue" 5200. I can imagine both benefits and drawbacks to having a little flexibility.
So I want to know: if you ever had your keel dropped for repairs or inspection, what did you re-bed it with and how has it held up over time?
Alternately...am I going too far? Given it's a small crack that likely compromises only the frontmost bolt and there is ZERO evidence of grounding damage, I could just try to dry it, seal it inside + out, re-torque, and cross my fingers...