Fairing the crack between keel and hull

[Louis St Pierre]

Dan Pfeiffer's site about his P26 is amazing - thanks Dan!

The bondo that filled the joint between keel and hull has let loose and I need to fix it this spring.  My plan is to use West system Gflex epoxy thickened with their fillers, then paint on regular epoxy to seal it. I suspect that despite the keel being very secure that there has to be some movement there, with 2200lbs of steel hanging out at 30°!  Before the epoxy goes on, I plan on lifting the boat as much as I dare on the stand to let the hull support the weight of the keel so that the new calking will go on in such a way that it will experience once she goes on the water.  I figure that if I don't, all that work will just snap off as the slings lift the boat up.  I sail on the Great Lakes, so salt water is not a problem.

Does anyone have advice about whether to use the epoxy to fill the gap?  I've read nearly as many posts on blogs stating to use the 5200 sealant instead.  It makes sense to me to put something flexible there, but I wonder about it being submerged and subject to the other perils of the water

The keel bolts have rust on the part that is in the bilge, but it looks to me to be surface rust, and there's no leakage at all anywhere in the boat, so I'm pretty confident that the keel's not about to fall off.

[Bill Robart]

I have heard no long term reports of the Gflex in this application.  I have several friends that have filled the gap with 5200 successfully with no further cracking. Assuming the crack is superficial and does not go under a significant portion of the keel I'd use 5200.  If the keel is separated from the stub of the hull I'd lower the keel and start over with the fitting process so it fits flush with the stub.

There have been accounts of large boat where the keel bolts were totally eaten away and the keel was still "stuck" on by the 5200. Don't know if the accounts are true but my own experiences trying to remove fittings bedded in 5200 makes me feel the accounts may be true.

Bill

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[Louis St Pierre]

Thanks Bill

This keel is attached directly to the bottom of the hull in a kind of socket.  The keel itself flanges out where it attaches to the hull, and the joint I need to fill is between the hull and the part of the keel that extends out of that socket. The picture I've attached was from last sprint when I bought the boat (the previous owner did not clean the scum off the keel!)  After last season the "crack" has progressed further along.  I also have the cross section view from Dan's site.  It's the fairing over joint that I have to replace.  I guess I should have attached those on my first post.... new to the posting thing.