Crack in bottom of keel

[Dan Hinckley]

With our B40 up in the shed the yard has found a crack about 2 feet long close to the rear end of the keel that is weeping oily water, very likely from the bilge. The crack is right on the bottom and and there is a second one about 2 “ to starboard of it about 10” long. He has not yet lifted the boat high enough to be able to really get a good look at it but will be doing so this week.

Since we haven’t in recent years hit any of the bricks that abound on the Maine coast our best guess so far is simple old age and fatigue, perhaps aggravated by prolonged exposure to oily bilge water. The mast has always been pulled every winter, at least for the last 10 years.

The yard (in whom we have well-proven confidence) would like to know how the hulls of the Bristols are assembled: is it in two halves glassed together? I have Dieter Empacher’s email and can always write him but any knowledge from the list would be valuable.

Anyone else ever encountered such a problem, and perhaps recommended solution(s)?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dan Hinckley
d...@suiattle.org

B40 113 1980

Sloop rig

[Dan Stadtlander]

Yes, it is my understanding that the hull was laid up in 2 halfs. I see evidence in my 39 to confirm.

Sent from my iPhone

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bristol39-40" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to bristol39-40...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to bristo...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/bristol39-40.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.

[crew4...@comcast.net]

Hi Dan,

In 2007 when we bought Sophie (1968, hull 28, yawl) it had a fine gelcoat crack along the centerline from just below the stem head fitting to where the keel cutaway began.  There was no distortion of hull halves or loss of gelcoat or other evidence of displacement along the crack.  We were having the hull Awlgripped so it was easy to lay up several staggered layers of glass and then fair it in.  No sign of any crack since.  Overkill?  Hard to say.

We hit a rock summer of 2014 at slow speed; it fractured the glass on the leading edge of the keel (not the same area as the 2007 repair).  In the course of the repair we found different colors of resin and other suggestions of an earlier repair.  Tending to confirm that was the fact that we constantly had a very small amount of water in the bilge before 2014, and none after the 2014 repair.  The repair man said it looked like an earlier impact had been repaired, but imperfectly, so it wept water.  2014 was our only contact with mother earth.  The repairman said the lay-up was consistent with two hull halves being joined with heavy glass layup. 

New topic:  I can't access the google group to post a new question.  The site seems to think I am at old Email address:  gale.t...@frontier.com.   

The correct address is crew4...@comcast.net, and I have been getting posts from you guys regularly, so I am still a techno-idiot not knowing what is what.  Can you help or refer me to someone else who can?

Thanks,

Jim Handley

---

From: "Dan Hinckley" <d...@suiattle.org>
To: bristo...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 5, 2016 8:22:15 AM
Subject: [Bristol39-40] Crack in bottom of keel

--

[Jack]

Dan, On my full keel Bristol 40, I found a bottom crack along the rear of the keel, maybe three feet from the aft end and was maybe a few inches long, water was leaking out at haul. Talked to a fellow at the yard and he thought this crack showed some signs of prior repair, not very good. Advised me to grind it out and see what there was. I got out the angle grinder and ground into this length wise crack and verified that there was a void in the keel. I think it turned out 10-12 inches long. But that is all it was, a void. Maybe sounded out an inch or so up the stbd side of the keel. I filled it with thinkened epoxy and no further problems the last four years. I did not see any sign that it went into the bilge at all. So it is possible that you have a void that connects with the water, collects water through the season and drains slowly on haul. If that is the case, think about grinding it out (you are probably going to need to do this to examine what is going on anyhow) and filling it in. Someone explained to me that they molded the hull in a female mold and getting all that resin and glass way down deep in the keel was hard. I see another post here that the hull was made in two halves and joined. Don't know about that. I have some pics of the void around here somewhere. where are you? I am in Exeter, NH. Jack Maull

[Jack]

Dan These are pictures of the void after I ground it out with an angle grinder. And the bottom of the keel aft of that. Could not get back far enough for good perspective. But there was a void and I just filled it with thickened epoxy. Jack

[Dan]

To me this is not a crack, it's a void. As you may know the hulls are laid up in 2 halfs then bonded together. In this area they left a big air bubble (void). No big deal, just fill it and glass over.

Dan Stadtlander

Sent from my iPad

--

[paul....@fairworkplace.net]

As another indication it is a void and not a crack into the bilge:  If it were all the way into the bilge, wouldn't you have noticed increased leaking into the bilge while the boat was afloat, and been unable to find the source? 

 

On the other hand, I had a crack like that in the after wall of the bilge on my Luders 33, and water just constantly trickled down.  That boat definitely was laid up in two halves and glassed together, (I thought the Bristol was a full female mold boat)  and after removing the rudder, I was able to find a series of small voids, crack and holes which, after I ground them out with a drill and a Dremel and slathered them with epoxy, stopped the leaks.  

 

And I'd like to know how you got the thickened epoxy all the way up into the void you found: use a caulking gun?   Best, Paul Merry    Calypso  Hull 76 (no keel voids found yet)

[James Lamb]

I had a void in Ondine that was found when I expanded the prop aperture, where the shaft exits the hull.  It was easily filled with thickened epoxy without incident.  My void never leaked.  

Jim

[Jack]

Yes, I agree that this is a void. But from the outside it looked like a crack about 6 inches lengthwise and I noted it when the boat was hauled and water was dripping out of the crack. I asked the hauler if they had set the boat down on this spot and cracked the keel. He told me there was plenty of strength in this area of the keel and advised that I open the crack up with an angle grinder. When I did I found this void. I just filled it with thickened epoxy and no further problems. I can't say that I saw any signs of this being a boat built in two halves and bonded together. I am pretty sure not leaks into the bilge resulted from this crack/void. Jack

[Matthew Thomson]

Some Bristols' had a Bronze Rudder shoe at that location to support the rudder, I'm surprised the B39/40 had a molded Fiberglass / integral shoe. V/R Matt / BLUEMOON

[Matt B]

I have also discovered a leaking crack a couple feet from the after end of the keel on Lyric.  The crack went thru into the bildge.  I opened it up back to clean glass (there was some oil contamination to remove.) Does anyone know the original glass layup schedule?  What was the weight of the woven roving? 

My plan is to bevel it back 12:1 and use alternating layers of woven and csm (powder bound) with west system epoxy. 

Matt

B39 37 1967

[Matthew Thomson]

So this discussion of how the hulls were laid up came up a couple of years back. That’s a construction decision, not a design issue. Clinton answered the question for us, the hulls were laid up in halves and a then bonded together while still “ green”. The deck house was one piece and installed after the interior was installed, with butyl caulking and screws under the toe rail. I also believe that full keels and center boards came out of the same molds and the centerboard versions were modified after being removed from the molds.


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

--

[Matt B]

Thank you for your response. What I am actually curious about is the weight of fiberglass cloth that was used... e.g. 24oz. I measured my hull thickness to be 11/16" with a pair of calipers. I attempted to count the layers of glass which appeared to be only 6.

Can anyone recommend a particular weave of glass or combination of fabric and chopped strand mat that would be best for this repair?