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C25 leaking

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Joe Diver
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1218 Posts

Response Posted - 07/20/2011 : 10:08:38

Bam! Did I nail that one over on the other forum or what?

Okay, enough tooting of my own horn.....I'd do everything necessary after a hard keel drop. That includes a call to Catalina for advise....and a professional boat yard to make necessary repairs....unless you're comfortable enough on your own to do everything needed....all new swing keel parts in addition to damage repairs....

Anyway, glad you found it....shame the PO didn't disclose the keel drop.....

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Leon Sisson
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1893 Posts

Response Posted - 07/22/2011 : 22:49:08

I replace the four swing keel pivot bolts every haulout. They're not expensive, and crevice corrosion is stealthy. Dave Laux and I did the calc's awhile back, and the stock bolt size is minimal. I added four 1/2" bronze bolts to back up the stainless ones.

Catalina factory has available instructions for replacing the embedded stainless steel weldments which support the swing keel bolts. After studying them, I don't think it's as tricky and error prone as it might first appear. However, the stbd side would involve some cabin sole cosmetic surgery to gain access.

The swing keel pivot area of the C-25 hull is heavily stressed. If the fiberglass has been damaged enough to leak, it may be significantly weakened as well.

A loose swing keel pivot pin will increase the shock loads when changing tacks or otherwise shifting keel load from side to side. Fully lowering the keel helps steady it some. (And repairing a worn pivot steadies it a lot!)

-- Leon Sisson

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Stinkpotter
Master Marine Consultant

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Djibouti
9081 Posts

Response Posted - 07/23/2011 : 08:08:08

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Joe Diver
 Bam! Did I nail that one over on the other forum or what?

Okay, enough tooting of my own horn.....I'd do everything necessary after a hard keel drop...<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">You nailed it? Check the fourth reply on this thread...

I agree with "Joe" and Leon: Free-fall damage requires more than "patching up" the leak. Pasting some fiberglass over it will not stabilize the load-bearing structure, which goes through some significant torsion from that 1500# cast iron lever when you change from one tack to the other... and the leak will reappear. If there ever was a time for professional help, this would be it.

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Joe Diver
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
1218 Posts

Response Posted - 07/23/2011 : 10:04:52

About rain?

I meant on another forum...where it was originally posted and the OP was told to come here and ask....

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Tim M
1st Mate

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60 Posts

Response Posted - 07/27/2011 : 17:53:08

From my experience and research done before I repaired the crack in front of the keel 'bucket', I found the idea of keel-cable failure as the cause is very often wrong. I found an old thread in which after having a glass-man repair this same crack, the owner was told by him that the only reason for the crack was the absence of glass-mat in that exact area and because of the force of the rig, the cracking was inevitable. Curiously the owner tended to still think a PO had had a cable failure and dismissed the idea of no glass mat in this area. However, I discovered this to be the exact case on my boat when I found the same crack - which had been bottom-painted over several times but now being on a trailer was obviously leaking bilge water - and decided to fix it. There was no evidence of anything ever striking the front of the keel trunk. After sanding off the bottom paint I went up and looked inside the boat and it looked like I had left a light on in the bilge but it was just daylight shining up through the not even 1/4 inch thick epoxy in the area just ahead of the keel cut-out. You could see where the glass mat stopped and right under the compression post was the thinnest area of the entire hull. I ground down a large area and laid multiple layers of progressively smaller pieces of composite cloth - shaped about like an arrowhead and duct-taped a slightly larger piece of release board to press it in place while the epoxy cured - just in front of the keel with all the proper filling and barrier coating, etc.. Needless to say it took care of the bilge-full of water every time after sailing that the previous owner convinced himself was a shifting bunch of rainwater. After rebedding the lower gudgeon and caulking around the cockpit drains' brass liners - which drain rainwater from the little gutter into the bilge - I'm slowly achieving a continuously dry bilge. Fiberglass work is not difficult and lots of help is available if you've not done it before and when done right can be better than new - especially if it wasn't done right in the first place.
TM

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The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.