Com-Pac 16 Keel Repair

[lvtoclimb@comcast.net]

I've got a 1976 Com-Pac 16 with an encapsulated keel. Not sure what The Hutchins Company used for their ballast mix at the time of production? I'm guessing it was a mixture of concrete and metal. At any rate, I've got some vertical cracks that allowed water to infiltrated in and behind the fiberglass shell. Over time through freeze and thaw cycles, these cracks have penetrated deep enough to expose areas of the ballast. The boat has been out of the water and placed on stands in hopes of being able to repair the damaged areas.

What is the best way to tackle this problem? I haven't really found any good resources on this particular issue. So any advice or leads would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Sean

[Chris D]

Grind away all of the bad glass, let her dry out completely, Then fill the voids with epoxy thickened with silica, fair that.Sand. Sand some more Then then apply layers of glass saturated with epoxy to the existing holes until it is close to fair. Add filler to low spots and sand some more until fair.
It is a bit of work to do, but while you have her on the hard you may as well take advantage of it.
Order Don Casey's Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual.
My 16 had the same condition. I wound up taking the entire ballast out so that I could reinforce the keel from the inside as well as the out side. Took the entire deck off to also replace all of the wood and add reinforcements to certain areas. A lot of work, but  worth it to me.

Chris

[Bramble]

I just purchased a 1976 C-16 with the same problem.  Lacking the time and expertise to do it myself (& wanting to go sailing) I got a local boat repair facility to take care of it.  They did a great job, but it set me back $800.  I'd rather not had the expense, but am glad it was a problem that could be taken care of relatively quickly.
mike

[Citroen/Dave]

I had almost hoped my 'new' 1987 C16-2 had the dreaded water-in-the-concrete problem from leaking deck hardware.  I had seen another boat where the water had gone through freeze/thaw cycles and the concrete had turned to easily removed gravel along with the scrap-Iron ballast.  I was envisioning first floating the boat and double checking the fore/aft balance and the taped-on water lines.  They were to be my reference markers for reintroducing ballast.  The new ballast was to be mostly Lead topped with a little concrete to level the sole.  Can you imagine the improved righting moment with the same (or a little more) weight lower in the keel when 'cruising' past other C16's. I envisioned being able to handle more wind than the other C16's with increased speed potential.

The real reason I wanted to remove old concrete was to lower the cabin floor.  With room for my feet to be at a lower elevation, sitting in the cabin would become more comfortable.  I could place my batteries placed low and forward as well.

My compromise solution to not removing solid concrete was to cut the bunk tops parallel rather than the keeping the curves going forward.  Now I have room for my two deep cycle battery (read Lead weight) as low as possible and forward to balance more body weight in the cockpit; a more balanced boat with guests aboard yields less wet feet in the cockpit.  I can still balance the boat fore and aft if I feel the need by moving the batteries aft while solo sailing.

[daveofds]

How do I fix this?  Ran into exposed aluminum on my trailer.

[slode]

That looks like a fairy simple gel coat fix.  It doesn't appear there is any damage to the fiberglass. Fair out the damage, brush on waxed gel coat, let cure, sand, done!  It may take a couple coats to get the new gelcoat built up to the surrounding surface.  Sand between coats to remove the wax layer.