delam at keel ???

[roamy]

Just purchased a 1975 cp 16 and have a few projects to get her up and off.   One is an obvious delamination of the fiberglass and concrete...paper sounding thump when tapped.  40%+- of keel and dry, dry.  ? #1   can I sail around a bit like this and for how long, consequences.  ?#2   what is/are the remedies.   Thanks

[Pacman]

Mine had that problem too. 

I solved it by drilling some 1/8" holes near the top of the delaminated areas.  Then I used a plastic syringe to inject thickened epoxy resin into the holes to fill the void.

When it was all set up, I finished by filling the injection holes with more thickened epoxy and sanding it smooth.

I used WEST System epoxy, syringes, and cabosil thickener (#407?).

It was actually a very easy job and now it is solid as a rock.

[skip1930]

Grab your grinder sand the area that looks like a hole in the fiberglass until you see the concreate.
Buy some Marine-Tex from West Marine, mix it up and putty knife it into the hole and smooth out. Or the marine -Tex can be rolled on with a 2" or 3" roller.

You can do this on the trailer.

You can lift the hull off the rollers or board by jacking up the hull bunks if you wish to work on the flat bottom of the keel.
Paint over it with any kind of paint. I used acrylic enamel water base house paint.

A couple hours later you can go sailing.

This saw cut a 6mm aluminium KEEL BOOT protects the bottom of the keel from rocks and was glued on with Marine-Tex four years ago.
No problem. This is what I use to 'hull fit' by, imposing my will on unwilling aluminium.This is Tiger Woods' yacht. It's beyond perfection.

skip.

[Pacman]

Skip,

I like the keel boot idea.

You could even park that on an oyster bar with no damage to your keel.

[skip1930]

Yes, I had become tired of fixing tiny little nicks in the glass from hard encounters so this seamed like a fine idea to me.
I banged out a upper cuff for the leading edge of the keel about 4" high but never welded it on. I guess I didn't need it.

It was very easy to make being flat. A pattern ply shape taped to the bottom of the keel, cut that out on the band saw and trace this to the 6mm marine aluminium plate and cut that out. Took about 40 minutes to do this, and about two hours to glue and wedge up until the Marine-Tex held.

skip.

[roamy]

Thanks for the info folks...now the keel boot is a marine aluminum, not just a high grade sheet..., and about a 1/4" ?

[skip1930]

I'm thinking it's 5083 or 5086 marine grade alum.
The 6000 stuff is too hard to work, bend, cut, and weld.
skip.