BYYB Forums

The old keel has finally been removed. I used a Sawsall and air chisels to remove most of the keel planks trimming up to the fillet. A Sawsall flush cut blade adapter is the tool for this but got it done before I found one. Next I let the remaining wood dry. Yes after all these months the keel was still very wet, amazingly wet! Next I used a hammer and wood chisel to remove the remaining pieces of the keel planks down to the hull planking. A pain of a job working overhead Ill tell you. My Rotozip has a flush cutter that I used to score the glass outside of the fillets down to the wood. Grinding this off is just too hard, plus with the winds here all the dust ends up in the pool. Again the last of the fillet glass was removed with hammer and chisel. This is surprisingly fast once you break the code. Next I must remove the last of the screws coming down from the cabin, and clean the paint off the old epoxy. After this the new keel can start being built up. The first plank of the new keel is one half inch wider than the old keel so the clean area must be a bit wider. There are 6 new photos in the Saralee Repair Gallery in the photo section. Maybe Brian can tell me where the captions went??? 8)


stub stem to mate with new keel

this looks wierd, no?

Looking aft at keel note the cupping of the fir plank. it ran all the way fwd.

all clean, now remove screws and begin rebuild

better view of cut, remove with a chisel, pops right off,,,,sort of

pieces of keel planks remain note scoring with rotozip flush cut tool

pieces of old keel planks remain

Here is the link to the larger photos.
http://byyb.org/cpg143/thumbnails.php?album=77

Is that better Craig? they were still in the gallery they just dont transfer with the photos you have to either write them here or copy and paste them under the pictures.
Wow Craig she does look weird without a keel. it looks like a nightmare Man, more power to ya, Press on Matey.
Brian.

This is how Craig's new keel will be built (sectional view). You can see it's not a solid lumber deadwood assembly like before. His boat, like many Vacationers, is a bit over weight (fast food, beer drinking, etc.) so some additional buoyancy would be nice. It also provides the opportunity to add some ballast, but it a meaningful way.



Adding ballast to the fore peak or on the sole of the boat (like Craig's current setup), doesn't really do much to the stability of the boat, though it can "steady her down" a bit in rough water. This is because the ballast isn't but a couple of inches below the CG (Center of Gravity) and a two inch leverage advantage, isn't enough to get excited about honestly.

Enter the box section keel, with internal buoyancy and ballast. The buoyancy (pink foam from Lowe's/Depot) insures there no place for water to live if it gets inside the keel. The ballast is nothing more then his old ballast plates (lead) that are living around the mast box, relocated to the bottom, forward section of the new keel, much lower then it's previous home. Placing the weight nearly 2 feet away from the CG, will have a huge impact on her stability curve.

She'll sail at lower angles of heel then before and will be able to hold up against a press of wind longer before needing to reef. Cool deal. The foil shaped fin and rudder will also decrease leeward slip, probably about 70% over the previous keel and permit the boat to point higher, though the amount will be just a guess at this point, I estimate several degrees higher. Helm balance will be better and the tiller pressure much lighter.



This is the profile and bottom view of the new keel. You can see she has a cut away forefoot, a big deal in maneuverability. She'll come about with authority now, being much more responsive at the helm. This keel will make her handle like a sports car, okay maybe a sports sedan, rather then the SUV she used to be. Craig hasn't seen this rudder yet (don't tell him), but I've opted to skip the complexity of skeg in favor of a full spade.

Cool Paul,

I'll be following this one real close.


Craig, good job, hopefully you'll be back on the water soon.

We made the move into the new house. :roll: And after I finish Joan's list, I'll be back to working on my boats too :lol:

Now all I need to do is get busy with it. Didn't do a damned thing all weekend. I did clean the pool of the 50 million leaves that blow off the trees. Maybe tonight I can get the screws ground down flush. Had to be 10# of SS holding that keel on.

The pool can wait, Sara Lee's slip is showing . . .

For what it's worth, you can use too few fasteners, but not often too many . . .

Yeah, I just had to rake up last years leaves, the other day. hock: I think the big yard, was part of my wife's diabolical plan to get me back to excercising. Call me slow, I went right along with her, "Your right, Honey, nice yard." Duh!

The best yard, I ever saw was gravel, painted green, with an old lawn mower, painted gold, on a petistal. :wink:

Craig, when I was sinking those big screws into my keel, I thought to myself, "I hope, I never have to take these out." :lol:

Lord, help me, I hope I haven't jinxed myself.

Mike I am so flustrated with this I could burn her where she sits. Problem is there is a town ordinance against lighting a match for fear of air quality. Plus she sits 10 feet fromt he kitchen wall. Ever see the Vikings? Where can I get one of those big red square sails? I've got the gasoline!