25+ water leaking from the keel

[davemitchell]

Unforunately I have had the boat on the trailer for a year. The bottom of my keel has been dripping water out of it, the whole time. Cleaning out the bilge yesterday, I pulled both the bilge pump and the pick up strainer for the hand pump. Under the strainer, in the bilge access closest to the steps there is a 3" square area where the fiberglass has been cut out, that is smooth metal, and a hole that is appox. 1" across that tapers out to about 1 3/4" at the top. I am still trying to get all the mud & gunk out of the hole. Could this be where a keel bolt is suppose to be??? Structrual (?) the keel appears fine, no cracks in the fiberglass, no signs of it lacking support. I will try to post a picture this week.
Any ideas would be helpful. The people on my dock now have a running debate about it.

 

[rssailor]

Keel problems

Well someone has cut a hole into the keel cavity from the bilge and done a crappy job. My 25+ has no holes cut in the bilge to the keel cavity. The boat by the way is one piece of fiberglass including the keel. There will be no keel bolts to find. Since your keel is weeping, you have a problem. You will need to dry out the cavity where the lead is with acetone. The bottom six to eight inches of the keel is just foam, with a thin layer of fiberglass around it. I found this out the hard way, when I hit a rock here on San Francisco bay with my 25+. Now the bottom of my keel is mostly epoxy and fiberglass. Boat was out of the water for two months to dry out the keel cavity.
What kind of trailer do you have for your boat? Have you done much retrofiting of your boat? Ryan Ericson 25+ Moonglow

 

[davemitchell]

Thanks for the info. Unforunately I have not been able to get back out to the boat since I posted. I did not realize the bottom was foam I thought the whole keel was lead covered with Fiberglass. The bottom of the keel is a bit rough from previous owner. I was hoping to dry it out and repair the bottom but it is still dripping, I definitely have water seeping in from the bilge somewhere. Do you have any idea of how the lead in the keel is secured to the boat? Seems like a lot of weight just for the fiberglass to be supporting.
As for the trailer, it is a bunk board trailer that is completely adjustable, (the boat was 2000 miles away when I bought it and could not get acurate measurements.) The only retrofits so far is a roller furling and I built a radio cabinet that fits on top of the nav table. Replaced the nav lights with a mast top tricolor and anchor light.

 

[rssailor]

Keel leak

Well, I am not sure how the lead is attached to the boat. I would ask Seth or see if someone on the forum who used to work for Ericson could answer your question. Is the bilge dry now, and if not, how is water getting into the bilge while the boat is on dry land? You will probably need to drill holes in the keel and pour acetone into a top hole and let it drain out the bottom hole to get the cavity dryer.
Do you use the factory mast raising setup with the rig going up from the front? Ryan

 

[NateHanson]

Why do you think the water's getting in from the bilge, and not just filling the keel cavity through the banged-up bottom of the keel?

If it's leaking out now on it's own, then it probably just leaked in on it's own. (if there were a leak from the bilge, your bilge would flood through the keel since your keel seems to have a leak into it from below)

 

[rssailor]

Keel leak

Dave,
Could you take a picture of the "hatch" in the bilge and what the bottom of the keel looks like. you can email the pics to me personally or post em on this thread. Ryan rssailor@yahoo.com

 

[davemitchell]

Wow, ummm, My bilge is wet now, I seem to have water working in through the qtr. berth area and the anchor locker. Slowly but surely eliminating leaks. As far as mast raising I used the gin pole at the marina. (it's free) I have no idea of the factory setup. If you have a picture of it that would be great.
As far as why I think water in getting in the keel thru the bilge, my boat has been on the trailer for close to a year now. I had some steerage problems last year and the repair place took almost 7 months to get around to fixing it. The keel is still dripping.
I am going to try and get to the boat this weekend, If I do I will take pictures and post them. Thank you for all your help.

 

[admirals barge]

dripping keel

74 35 II # 325

when i bought the boat in dec i had it hauled. the keel was dripping. i found a crack running down the middle of the keel from the bow above the water line to the middle of the keel. after weeks of dripping i got curious and used a shop vac and blew air into the crack and more water came out i started poking a screw driver and more water came out. well i got out the drill and a 1/2 bit and drilled a hole in the bottom of the keel. well i got over 6 gallons of water out of the keel. it had come into the crack and i guess the foam acted like a sponge. well 3 more holes in the bottom of the keel and a hole on both sides of the keel about 1 foot up allowed all the water to drain out. after all the dripping stopped repaired the crack with fiber glass mix and 3 layers of glass and finish coat. filled holes with fine sand vibrating the keel so the sand would fill all the voids and then filled and glassed over the holes same way crack was repaired. so there may be a lot more water in the keel. so perhaps a few explority holes in the bottom may help drain the water out of the keel.
thats my experience with a dripping keel....

good luck
greg