Bending a keel

[gareth harris]

Is it possible? The 'tards at my boatyard moved my boat sometime in the last three years, and left the stands so the boat was at about a 10 deg angle. Can that damage the keel?

Part of the reason I ask is that there are now threee vertical bulges in the fibreglass on the side of the keel, running pretty much top to bottom.

If you can tell me I am paranoid, good; if not, any idea what can be done about it?

Gareth
Freyja E35 #241 1972

 

[tenders]

Gareth, do you have a photo?

10 degrees fore or aft? Or 10 degrees port or starboard?

I've had boats wintered with too much pressure on the stands, leaving a suspicious-looking dent or two in the side of the boat. They unfailingly returned to normal within hours of being launched.

It seems unlikely that 10 degrees would be much of a structural problem. The cosine of 10 degrees is about 0.98 which I think suggests that 98% of the stress of the boat is where it is when the boat is level. (Non-armchair naval architects, please correct me.)

My issues with not being stored level fore-and-aft have been with drainage problems but that isn't a problem indoors, as I recall you are.

 

[gareth harris]

I agree it seems unlikely that it should do any damage, and I would not have asked the question, were it not for the bulges in the keel, and the fact I have no idea how the keel is built.

It would be hard to show anything in a picture, as the bulges are subtle.