Leak in Bilge

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The smell was probably the rotted keel timber. Generally they used a large peice of wood in the mold then glassed over it. If the "glass was soft on top of it you gotta big problem. Its probably not a major structural member (the wood), especially if the hull was laid up heavy enough in the keel area. When you have it hauled just drill a big hole in the lowest place, at the stern, let it drain until it stops then put a vacuum pump on it for awhile. Drill a hole in the forward area of the keel as high as possible and tap it for a 3/4 inch npt nipple. Gravity feed denatured alcohol until it comes out the back. Then you have to decide what you want to do next, cut it out or fill it. From your post I dont think you want to spend the bucks to have it cut out and repaired. Therefor, CPES is your new best friend. Lots of it, flooded just like the alcohol. Pour it in until it comes out the back, plug that hole and gravity feed until it wont take no more :) You will be surprised at how much water the CPES will "chase" out.
 
kulas44 said:
The smell was probably the rotted keel timber. Generally they used a large peice of wood in the mold then glassed over it. If the "glass was soft on top of it you gotta big problem. Its probably not a major structural member (the wood), especially if the hull was laid up heavy enough in the keel area. When you have it hauled just drill a big hole in the lowest place, at the stern, let it drain until it stops then put a vacuum pump on it for awhile. Drill a hole in the forward area of the keel as high as possible and tap it for a 3/4 inch npt nipple. Gravity feed denatured alcohol until it comes out the back. Then you have to decide what you want to do next, cut it out or fill it. From your post I dont think you want to spend the bucks to have it cut out and repaired. Therefor, CPES is your new best friend. Lots of it, flooded just like the alcohol. Pour it in until it comes out the back, plug that hole and gravity feed until it wont take no more :) You will be surprised at how much water the CPES will "chase" out.
Click to expand...

none of that would work on my trawler....plus no keel timber (rotted or not) in any glass trawler I have looked over or discussed with other owners.
 
So any rough ideas on how much a keel of a 40 ft boat may hold? at a price of $1000 per 10 gal I hope not much. I admit that I had to Google to find out what cpes is.
 
eseyoung said:
So any rough ideas on how much a keel of a 40 ft boat may hold? at a price of $1000 per 10 gal I hope not much. I admit that I had to Google to find out what cpes is.
Click to expand...

My keel I suspect could hold 50-75 gallons...but do you really know what's going on inside of your boat's keel and shaft log area? I didn't till I pulled my shaft and ground a big hole into my keel and boroscoped everything.

Drilling a few holes and flushing/filling might be a great idea...could also be a complete waste of time and material...unless you know what you have and how it's laid out.
 
Yeah, hopefully I didn't give off the wrong impression. If there is something wrong, dangerous, or simply needing repaired I am going to do it. I have torn apart boats before and I'm not scared to use a sawzall! I am just trying to get the most information I can to plan the attack. I plan to have the stern tube pressure tested to verify its integrity. Based on that answer, I will plan out the next step. I already plan to take out the bilge/keel frp and open up the keel and take whatever is in there out. I have pretty good OCD and won't be able to sleep until I find out what is in there. I think the right fix is based on what is truly wrong. If the stern tube passes, then still getting into the keel to clean it out.
~Jeff
 
If you want to know what is in there just drill a plug hole and look at it. Then put a pump on it and suck the crap out and put it overboard. Pump it for a few weeks and it will probably clear up and quit stinkin. "rotted" is probably the wrong term for the wet timber, more like "pickled" or "stagnent". CPES is not the end all do all stuff. You can get a 1 to 1 epoxy from U.S. composites that is a lot cheaper. Thin it about 30% with MEK, up to 50% is ok but it gets rubbery. Way cheaper and works just as good for your application.
 
PSNeeld, from the pics your "keel" will not get close to that figure, maybe 20 gallons. Measure it and let us know. Hydraulic concrete is not a bad idea for filling a keel, and cheap.
 
kulas44 said:
PSNeeld, from the pics your "keel" will not get close to that figure, maybe 20 gallons. Measure it and let us know. Hydraulic concrete is not a bad idea for filling a keel, and cheap.
Click to expand...

I did...QUITE accurately...another trawler forum "guess" from pictures..:rolleyes:...unbelievable....

Plus there's NO WOOD in most of out keels...what are you thinking????:rofl::rofl::rofl:

stringers yes...keels no....
 
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I think the stink comes from the organisms in the salt water that die and decompose. As paneeld said, and in my case, no wood in the keel.

Rob
 
My Grand Banks 32 had a hollow keel, filled with old scrap metal for ballast. There is a (about) 6" rubber hose with a cap on it in the bilge so you could pump it out. My keel leaked and after a month or two I would use a Suckup to empty it. Turned out, the keel was hollow all the way from the stem and the stainless rub strip on the stem had shed a couple of the screws that held it on. Cleaning up the area, sealing the old holes and drilling and bedding new holes stopped the leak. If your boat is of similar construction, your leak may not be the stern tube.
 
I was just going by the external "glass keel on my 40 foot fishing boat hull. And its quite a bit bigger than yours, still not 20 gallons, and I filled it with epoxy and cabosill. It was a big stinkin chunk of lumber, kinda like the originall description. And who's to say what was put in the hull of a 1977 asian built boat, certainly not any of us, unless we have actually checked ourselves, which we have not. It may well be hollow. If it is, personally, I would fill it with concrete, leaving a couple of sump stations for pumps.
 
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