[gary4now]

My son bought a flooded Sun 27 (27 foot cruiser, fibreglass over wood frame, with lead keel).  It was moored at a tidal dock but heeled over in shallow water, keel resting on a sandy/silty bottom for months. Rudder has been bent as well, probably from long time spent heeled over and subject to wind/tidal/current movements.  After pumping out water and moving to deeper spot at the dock where the boat now floats, a significant leak was discovered, from inside it looks like where keel joins the hull.  After many many attempts he has managed to patch from the inside so that leak rate can be managed by bilge pump about once per hour.  He can’t afford lift out and work in a proper dockyard, but there is a spot where he can beach it at high tide and possibly pull it higher to work on it.  I have looked at how to support a keel boat out of the water and it seems all weight should be on the keel itself, with side supports only to prevent tipping over.  My questions:

1.  If the leak is due to a crack where the keel is joined to the hull, will we be able to do a proper repair with the boat thus supported?  Should we crank on the nuts/bolts connecting keel to hull when it is out of the water?

2.  Considering likelihood that there has been fiberglass delamination at the leak site and infiltration of saltwater into the hull, how much attention should be given to addressing this?  Will we have to grind away until we have removed all areas which have been infiltrated?  If so, will we have to restore/rebuild layer by layer with mat material etc. or if e.g. less than a square foot affected would patching with fiber-impregnated epoxy be sufficient?  He will not be overly concerned with cosmetic appearance.

3.  Specs for the boat show displacement as 2812 kg (6200 lb) and ballast of 1043 kg (2300 lb). Does the total weight (displacement) of the boat include the ballast or does the weight of the ballast have to be added to the displacement?  We want to be sure support structure can safely carry the weight.

4.  Any other suggestions or things to investigate welcome.  The boat will mainly be used as a live-aboard and not likely to see any heavy seas or extreme conditions.

Thanks,

Gary

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[Bruce_Sailboatdata]

Some of this is way above my pay grade but what I can tell you is ballast is included in displacement. Also, it is very likely the boat’s actual displacement is greater than what the builder reported for a new build. Especially if the boat’s hull was underwater for months.

[PaulK]

Fixing a leaky keel/hull joint is a major endeavor.  Such leaks are frequently caused by the keel hitting something underwater.  The forces involved often jam the back end of the keel up, damaging the hull there, and levering the front of the keel down, opening up the seam between the keel and hull and often damaging the hull or floors (ribs) that the keel is attached to.  A proper repair usually calls for removing the keel from the hull, repairing the hull where it has been damaged, and then re-seating the keel to the hull. Getting the keel off will be essentially impossible if you are planning to beach the boat at high tide and prop it up on the shore. Taking the keel off will remove the main support that is holding the hull up.  The stands that would be simply holding the boat balanced on its keel will need to actually support the hull.  You would need to dig a hole under the keel so it could separate from the hull.  The stands would tend to sink into the shoreline mud as the tides came and went – making the entire structure unsteady and prone to falling over.

It might be possible to do a “quick and dirty” fix by simply wrapping or covering the entire hull/keel joint with fiberglass and epoxy. This might stop the leak temporarily. But, if the keel/hull joint is damaged from a grounding, the keelbolts may not be holding the keel firmly. When the boat is refloated every wave that hits the hull will cause the keel to swing from side to side a little bit, like a pendulum. The keel on this boat weighs more than a ton; an epoxy/fiberglass band-aid wrapped around the keel/hull joint is not going to keep it from moving.  The movement will end up breaking the epoxy/fiberglass joint. The leak will return and if not repaired properly the constant flexing could end up weakening the keelbolts enough that they break, and the keel falls off.  This is why people with leaking keel/hull joints remove and re-attach their keels.

This boat does not appear to be a good low-cost housing option.

[gary4now]

Thanks Bruce, that is helpful, one unknown eliminated.

[gary4now]

Hi Paul, thank you for a very detailed and informative reply, you have clarified a lot.  The shoreline scenario you describe is, I see now, scarily probable, since the river silt is indeed very fine and muddy.  Meantime, major update:  this time of year happens to coincide with some of the lowest tides, and in spite of the boat having been moved to deeper water, obviously not deep enough.  The boat again temporarily grounded (in fine silt) so keel in the mud and about 18″ of hull exposed below the waterline.   This has revealed that there is a gash in the hull about 2-3″ long, as opposed to a lengthy separation line, and it doesn’t look like it lines up with keel/hull attachment seam.  I suspect that at some point, something sharp either rubbed a hole or pierced it, so it looks like just beaching at high tide, supporting on the keel, and then grinding away at the gash to get to clean material and then patching might solve the problem. See photos to view.

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