Thread: Hollow Keel
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Old 02-20-2012, 11:14 AM   #9
Marin
Scraping Paint
 
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 13,745
RE: Hollow Keel

Quote:
psneeld wrote:So I ground a half inch into the corner of the bottom of the keel and ...wow... a stream of water like a garden hose started...
A hollow keel or partially hollow keel is pretty typical of boats of this type.* Grand Banks boats have hollow-ish keels, for example.* Most of them have a means of pulling the water out of the keel-- a stub pipe coming up through the floor of the engine room is the most typical thing used on GBs.* Some GB owners have installed drains in the keel to use when the boat is on the hard.* This is particulaly critical for boats that live in places where the winters are really cold and boats are stored on land.* Water in the keel can freeze, expand, and crack the keel open.

The water can get in any number of ways.* Something as insignificant as the screws holding an "impact" strip of stainless or bronze strapping to the stem of the boat that runs from above the waterline to below it can admit water through the screw holes if they penetrate all the way through the hull and the impact strip is not properly bedded or if the bedding is no longer doing its job.

While it's said by the experts on the GB forum that water in the keel of a boat with a solid fiberglass bottom, like a GB, is not structurally detrimental in itself, it can over time add a lot of weight to the boat.
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