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Hi, would love to see whether the keel is bolted or encased in the hull. Thanks.
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Hi, would love to see whether the keel is bolted or encased in the hull. Thanks.
This is not information readily available. That said, the first piece of information needed is the boat builder/model?
If properly designed, and maintaned it doesn’t matter. So knowing is only a small part if the puzzle.
It’s possible the original poster was requesting that a bolted keel be added to each boat model if that information is available.
Its an important piece of information that isn’t included but could be added over time.
Before keel bolts can be maintained their presence needs to be known. The presence of keel bolts on an older sailboat needs to be taken into consideration when buying a boat. It’s not a straightforward repair that can be done by anyone. A bolted keel on an older sailboat would affect initial price and initial refit cost.
If a boat has them, keelbolts are usually easy to spot in the bilge. Most boats these days seem to have them.
For anyone wanting to avoid keel bolts when purchasing a sailboat looking in the bilge of every boat is going to be a problem and a waste of time.
Knowing in advance what boats have bolt on keels narrows the search for a boat by giving the ability to eliminate those particular boats from the search in advance.
As ocean levels rise there will be more debris in the water. Debris that has the potential to knock the keel of of a boat. A keel that is manufactured as part of the hull with encapsulated ballast is a stronger keel. It eliminates a point of failure and required maintenance.
Until you hit something and put a hole or crack in the fiberglass and water gets in. Perhaps without you realizing it. Then the ballast of steel punchings starts to rust. If you don’t catch it in time the expanding rust can blow the keel open and the ballast will all fall out. Freezing water inside the keel will do this as well. A few builders do make boats with encapsulated keels. (e.g. Island Packet) and make sure that information is included in their sales literature. Island Packet uses lead, so you don’t have to worry about rust – only freezing. Brokers should be aware of any encapsulated keels in the boats they have listed and can tell customers when asked. Or the broker can be told that the potential buyer is only interested in encapsulated-keel boats, and let the broker do the research.
Asking about keel bolts… not ballast make up
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