Recent content by dudley500

Repairing soft decks is the most common and time consuming issues I have encountered.

After many hours sanding the hull to gelcoat, barrier coating and applying new bottom paint I am not satisfied with results. I used interlux no sand system with 4 coats 2000e then micron extra. The build up is very much like an orange peel. In hindsight I should of sanded before apply micron...

I look forward to seeing your pics. I did find some damage to the front of my keel when I finished stripping the bottom. Its was about 3/4 of the way up and about 6 inches long. Other than that everything seems solid. I ground out the old repair because it had hairline cracks and redid it.

Interesting, I am a bit confused about the structure of the compression post support on these boats. There is a space between the stringer and hull on mine. It appears that the support comes from being tabbed into the bulkhead above. Yours appears to have much more foam. Anyway this is where I...

These images are close ups. All of the damage is directly above the keel. I spent the afternoon grinding away debris. It apears that they used scap lead and filler to fair out the top of the keel before glassing over. Something caused it to expand and crack. I think the reddish hole is from...

Okay what is this So, I cut out the floor to gain access and this is what I see. It appears that on top of the keel there is a 3/4 inch layer of filler that just crumbles, on top of that a thin layer of lead much like you would buy to flash a chimney, then the fiberglass skin. The whole mess...

Thanks for the responses. It appears that the biggest issue is access. Would it be reasonable to cut access holes. I would need to cut at least two large enough to use a grinder. I am not sure if cutting a hole in the head would expose the crack beyond the stringer or if tabbing would be in the...

It does continue forward of the bulkhead but I have no access because it is under the head

The the first image I posted is looking foward toward the bow. The stringer in the picture is under the compression post. Although the crack is very large it does not run the entire length of the Keel it stops midway just in front of the middle hatch where the photo is taken from. There is also...

A few things that I left out. The keel is enclosed in fiberglass, there doesn't appear to be any signs of keel movement (cracks on the outside). Someone has suggested that this may have been caused by freezing water. The crack is wide open enough that I can fit my fingers in.

Looking for help. I am in the process of restoring a 77 E-29. I just located a crack on top of the keel:0. I have no idea how I missed this before but anyway. Is this game over not worth fixing? Have any of you seen this before? Picture attached