38-200 Keel Bolt thread resurrection
Greetings All,
When our 1986 Ericson 38-200 was hauled out in November, we had cracks along the forward and aft portions of where the keel attaches to the hull. The joint did weep a bit (clear weep - no brown detected), so we had the yard torque the keelbolts that they could reach, and then ream and fill the joint while she was hanging in the sling prior to splash down.
We dried out the bilge after a recent sail to observe how things were holding up. We noticed the next morning that the bilge had water in it.
We dried the bilge again and observed weeping around the keelbolt forward and starboard of the mast. We think we might also have some weeping around the aft-most keelbolt, but it was really difficult to tell due to the location of the engine.
We have the E38-200 model where the engine is under the galley sink, thus making at least 5 of the keelbolts virtually inaccessible.
In reading through various threads, it appears many folks have dropped the keel and re-bedded it (depending upon the condition of the keel bolts). While that would be the most thorough solution, our problem/challenge is getting access to several of the bolts. We'd probably need to pull out the engine, port water tank, the mast and disassemble the galley sink.
Alternatively, we could haul the boat, ream the joint, fill, and repaint.
Has anyone with the engine under the galley sink has ever dropped their keel? Are there better alternatives?
Thanks in advance for your input!! -Curtis