[Eliot Beach]

I am wondering about the ballast in a union 36 being iron. Does anybody know if they had problems with rust and intrusion of water into the ballast cavity. Was the iron ballast enclosed in a one piece,( sealed hull ),or was the ballast attached separate then enclosed with second ( bottom), part of hull and then seamed ? Also I was wondering what are the tell-tell sign’s that the iron started rusting ? Would one have to drill holes along the ballast area to check? I know a lot of questions and I was always told to look for a sailboat with lead ballast. Thanks for any response.

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[PaulK]

If the iron in an encapsulated keel is rusting, it will expand. This may cause bulges in the keel, or possibly on the top of the keel in the bilge. Lead does not have this problem.

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