Water in the Bilge / Keel issue Roughwater 35?

[Ttsaang]

I Have a 1974 Roughwater 35 with a fibreglass hull and a full keel. When I put it on the hard recently I noticed liquid oozing out near where the prop shaft comes out. (see photo's) It does look like a very small crack is there. I can't tell if it's salt water or freshwater, tastes a bit like salt water but I can't be sure. Pretty smelly stuff. (see photo of jar) In trying to narrow things down I decided to shop vac the remaining liquid out of the bottom of the bilge. Before I did this I put some red food colouring in the liquid to see if it was coming through the crack. I collected the liquid from below the crack over a period of about 5 days and as you can see in the photo of the jar, it's not red. I have been vacuuming out the liquid at the stern end of the bilge where the prop shaft goes through the bulkhead, the boat sits on the hard slightly bow high. I sucked it out completely and I come back the next day and there's more water in the bilge, not a lot but it seems to be percolating up from the bottom of the bilge/keel. I'm not sure what's below the fibreglass at the bottom of the keel, maybe some sort of ballast. (I would like to add more) After reading many posts I'm thinking that the lower part of the keel is full of water. Note that I did a major repair last year to the windows and topside decks and a lot of water had been getting into the boat and probably for quite a while, but no fresh water has been getting in since last March and over the summer there was never an abnormal amount of water in the bilge, but always a few inches. I assumed that was normal and to make matters worse, it was also complicated by the fact that the wastewater holding tank had been overfilled at some point and was leaking into the bilge. (the wastewater pump had failed and there's no level indicator for the fibreglass holding tank, it's on my list of projects for this winter) So I'm wondering if the small crack is the culprit and maybe it developed last winter before I started topside repairs and water maybe froze in the keel.
Do I need a drain plug in the lower part of the keel? Could this be an issue with my stern tube or stuffing box? Can I fix the crack with thickened structural Epoxy?

As a side note, I find the boat quite rolly and wondering if anyone has a solution for potentially adding ballast?

 

[Ttsaang]

Sorry about the orientation of my photos, not sure how to rotate them.

 

[Comodave]

I think that I would drill a hole in the keel from the outside and see if water comes out. Hopefully you can get it all drained out before it freezes again. As to the crack, I think that it needs more than just thickened epoxy. I would grind it out and lay in at least several layers of 1708 fiberglass with epoxy resin. But you need to figure out where the water is getting into the keel. I would drill a small hole in a location where the water will drain out and also where you could install a drain plug. You may never figure out where the water is getting in. So it would be good to have the drain plug so next fall you can drain it again without having to drill more holes. Good luck.

 

[Ttsaang]

Thanks Comodave. I was thinking the same thing, to have a drain plug for haul out.

 

[Comodave]

My photos are wrong about half the time so I quit worrying about it, don’t know why they do that.

 

[Xsbank]

Known issue with phone cameras...

 

[Sailor of Fortune]

what part of the country is "Black creek?" does it freeze there? regional climate matter on these things. Forum members are spread all over the country. Freeze/thaw will crack a keel...Help us, help you...

 

[Comodave]

He said it froze last winter. So I assumed that he is in a winterizing area.

 

[Ttsaang]

Update, It seems that the small crack in the keel is isolated and can be repaired, I'm not sure what caused it. I'm going to fix it and monitor it. I thought there was water seeping up to the bilge from in my keel, but what I've discovered is that what I thought was the bottom of my bilge is not. There's an approximately 3 inch layer of old dried up hardened sludge. It almost looks like coal or compressed sand, it smells awful. It breaks apart and comes out in chunks revealing the proper fiberglass base of the bilge. I'm trying to chip it out, there's a section that's not very accessible under the engine pan. I can see it with a flashlight but I can't reach it, the width of the bilge is a little under 3 inches. Hard to get a tool or scraper in there. I'm thinking that this boat is from 1974 and back then maybe more things went into the bilge like oil, etc... and it's never been properly cleaned out.

 

[Comodave]

When you get that crap out of there it should help your boat as far as smells goes. Good luck, have to find the right tool to get in there.

 

[DrissZougari]

You possibly have water intrusion from a corroded/damaged shaft housing!