Need advice on repairing scrapes in keel and hull

[TimW]

Hi All -
     Unfortunatately when hurrying to extract my boat from the water (was waiting line for the
ramp) I see I managed to knock off the lower left carpeted 2x4 guide connection on the frontside resulting in some nasty looking scrapes on the side of the hull by the edge of the
bare metal bracket.  So I clearly need to repair both the trailer and the boat.  Do you think it's necessary to attempt some preliminary repair of the scrapes before putting it back in the water
to provide access to fix the trailer?  What do I use to fill in the scrapes and what type of paint best matches the standard creme colored factory finish (mines an 89 if that matters).
  thanks,   Tim 

[skip1930]

Clean the scraps of crud and hairline cracks or sharp edges, any paint ought to go away around the offending area.
Just a little sand paper, don't get carried away. Use the hand not a machine. Buy a jar of white Marine-Tex from a boat store and mix the whole thing up in a 3 lb Hill's Brothers coffee can or some such container.
The reason I mix all of it at once is to achieve the 'perfect' ratio of resign to hardener.

Watch the Marine-Tex that has filled the damaged area and rolled into the divots of the keel tac up in about 15 minutes. Occasionally a roller action may be necessary to catch any runs.

I used a 3" wide paint roller [ thinest mat possible ]  to apply and smooth out the mix. Chuck the whole mess in the garbage can when your done for easy clean-up.

I used Marine-Tex to glue my 6mm aluminium 'Keel Boot' to the flat of my keel three years ago. All OK.

Trailer, well after shearing the capeted 2 x 4's off with the keel coming on board the trailer a few times, I hack sawed off all six of those welded flat bars holding the keel bunks in place. The keel just sits on the rollers. No bunks needed.

skip.

[TimW]

Thanks much Skip.   So I can actually just remove the lower bunks altogether?  Does that make
it any more difficult to bring it in lined up correctly? 
               thanks,  Tim W.

[Greene]

Sounds like good advice on the keel repair, but I still prefer to keep the side bunks on my trailer.  We've all had the same issue with the 2 x 4 boards getting broken off.  It seems to happen when the keel sits on top of one of the side bunks instead of going between them and sitting above the rollers.  I followed someones advice on this site and replaced the 2 x 4 side bunks with 2 x 8's.  This gives you a lot more leeway in finding the center on the trailer.   I like the idea that the boards will keep my keel in line with the rollers below them when the power yacht with the twin 200 hp outboards in the next ramp decides to power on to his trailer.  The waves are less likely to move the keel off center - or at least I have the peace of mind believing it will.

Here are the 2 x 8's I recently installed.  Another advantage of using the 2 x 8's is that the lower edge will sit on top of the frame, (the 2 x 4's sat up a couple of inches) so even if the keel should rest on top it is less likely to break it off from the mounts. 



Just another opinion.
Mike