BYYB Forums

Well fellow Pirates you have all read the Wreck of the Saralee and know of my difficulties with her keel. The keel is the heart of a vessel and hers was flawed from the start. The SYP and Weld Wood glue I used saved me a few bucks in the beginning but the keel has demanded rework every season. You see the planks were not clamped tight enough and there are gaps between them. Every time she is in the water for very long the keel gets soaked the planks warp some more. Since the foundering on Roosevelt Lake last summer, the keel is slowly folding itself under the port side hull. Now it has broken the glue line at the keel hull junction and will soon be pulling the screws through the hull. That will be the bitter end of her! The only choice is the chain saw! Yes gentle readers the decision has been made. She has a date soon with Mr. Homelite. She has had a good run and I have sure enjoyed sailing her. She has taught me a lot and Bill even more, but sadly, her time has come. Recall I was worried about this last summer after she dried out some. After opening her up I see the damage is worse than it first appeared and scab patching repair of the keel is just not possible again. When the tops’l rig came crashing down at BEER Bill asked me, “What do we do now?” I answered, “Cut away the damage and fight on!” So Mr. Chainsaw will surgically remove Saralee’s flawed keel, from the stem to the stern. Even as I write Paul is designing a replacement keel for the old girl that will extend her useful life for years to come. In addition the new keel will resolve all the handling problems inherent with the stock design. Ease of windward work, reduced leeway, and more positive tacking are just the top three improvements this new keel will provide. The keel will be a high performance design and will feature a center board to help with pointing. Unfortunately I don’t have performance data for the old configuration, but Keith’s boat is as close to mine as any so sailing performance data from the Whippoorwill will suffice as a baseline to measure the new modification by. So as Paul Harvey used to say, “Stand-by for NEWS”! 8)

Oh great, is that what I have to look forward to? Well get you're boat back together and get your butt back here so we can see how the improvements effect her in a side by side comparison. And hurry up will ya! We're gonna miss you this year. I just made a major improvement to my boat. I'm set up for draft beer If your lucky I'll put on a beer line long enough to pass over to you while were sailing side by side, that is if you can keep up.Till then go sailing with those good SW folks and light a fire under Jim's butt to get his boat wet before you pack up and come home. Good luck with the keel and keep us posted on your progress.

Keith

Sounds like the right thing to do Craig. On my Weekender I am making the keel from one piece, no laminating it up as per the plans. Has worked very well for me on other boats.

Wooooh on the chain saw Craig, though considerable time with a reciprocating saw will likely be in the future. Try to find an "offset bimetal" blade with a pretty fine tooth count, like 14 at least. This will eat right through those pesky screws and leave a clean, reasonably flush cut. These types of blades are commonly used to saw off studs, flush with a footer or header, so you don't have a little chunk of wood to chisel away. Error on the keel side, so as not to tear up the bottom too much. When you get to the bottom to stem junction, stop then cut up at 90 degrees to the bottom planking. This will leave a "tooth" like thing on the bottom of the stem and a handy place to tie the new to the old. Remove the screws in the tooth area, that hold the three pieces of stem wood together. Cut through the outer layers, but not the center layer (3/4" deep cut), along a line that mimics the bottom (as if it continued out across the stem), then pry the outer layers off. This will leave a center section, with a 3/4" lap joint on each side. The new keel will "sandwich" the stem in this area.

Sara Lee needed a new flippers anyway . . .



It might look something like this. Pink is the original profile, black the additions.

Lead on, Craig.

hock:

It would make my day, if I could reduce the keel drag, when coming about into the wind.

I'm looking forward to photos of corse :wink:

Don't hold me to that shape, it was a quickie and nothing is balanced or calculated, but it's sort of close.

The Saralee has been my computer wall paper at work. I would show it to people and tell them that’s what I what to build. How old is she?

You mentioned gaps, SYP and glue. I plan to have at least finished the keel this summer. I was planning on using SYP but now I feel like I should consider some thing else. Could people on the forum rate 3 items in order of importance?

Thanks
Brian

She was launched 26 Dec 2000. I really hosed the keel by relying on copper nails to pull in the laminations. SYP may be fine if you use plenty of clamps and thickened epoxy to fill any gaps. Also Brian don't glass the keel, if water gets in it can't get out. I would recommend you don't use the Weld Wood glue. It has no gap filling properties and is quite unforgiving with these kinds of problems. If it is worth doing it is worth epoxy. Keep us posted on you progress! 8)

I am so glad you are saving her Craig. I am sorry that this happened to you, Steady on mate!
Brian.

Arrr, so be it Matey. Thanks to all for the encouragement. 8) 8) 8)