BYYB Forums

Hi.

Been away for a year plus due to arm injury and workload at work.  Hopefully, the Arm's OK now, but last year, I had just started assembling the keel when I did myself in.  :-\

Went to check the keel this spring, ready to go on (already marked out the hull bottom for cutting out).  Unfortunately, I discovered when I laminated the middle layers that the inner Stem layer shifted - opening a gap between 1/4 to 1/2 inch at bottom of the keel.  :o

Further inspection showed me there's some smaller delaminations along the length of the keel.  The smaller ones I could probably fill in.  The butt joint between the middle keel board and stem board has me more concerned.  No idea how much epoxy it will take or how bad it really is.

I'm up in Manitoba and I'm concerned the freezing and thawing every year will cause further issues down the road.  Am I better off scrapping the keel and restarting it from scratch?  (IF I do, I'll pre-fit and screw it all together before gluing instead of nailing it together like the original instructions.)

Thanks.  :'(

I'd scrap it! The boat is worth more to you than a few pieces of wood. Use it to keep your workshop warm this winter then you will be comfortable with it. ;D

When I laminated up my keel I also had a minor slip that opened up a 1/2 square gap behind the stem.  I simply cut a square peg that loosely fit the hole and set it in with epoxy to fill up any gappage.  So far so good.  I don't expect to have to deal with it unless I smash it onto something submerged.  Maybe not even then. 

Having said that, if the defects in your keel will make you crazy just thinking about them, then you are probably better off to chuck it and start over.  Personally, I have a tough time imagining any defect that could not be overcome with enough bits of wood and epoxy.

Al Stead
weekender Jumping Duck

Wood butcher's friend to the rescue. As Al suggested, a hunk of wood, slathered in thickened epoxy will fill the hole(s) and this will be fine. Epoxy is your friend, take advantage of her.

You bet. My keel did that after a half dozen seasons in the water. I turned her upside down, drilled a bunch of holes, filled them up with epoxy until it started oozing out along the crack, pounded dowels into the holes, waited till the epoxy cured, planed it all flat, repainted it, and voila. I never claimed to be a carpenter. You can't tell by looking but I bet my keel is 1/2 wood, 1/2 plastic by now. Haven't had any recurrence of the problem since I did that, about four years ago.

After finishing my keel(2 layer,skipjack)there were several spots along the outer edge that I didnt like the looks of so i ran down the entire bottom edge(joint) with a skil saw set at about 1/2 inch and then filled with thickned epoxy...time will tell I suppose.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

Never considered that I would have to be repairing it in the future anyway.  This should be good practice! 

Hopefully I'll have some pics of the sawdust pile soon!