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Leaky Bilge & Weeping Keel

Tyler Donley

Junior Member
Hi All,

I have a '78 Ericson 27 and when I hauled out two years ago (it's been on hard ever since) I noticed some dripping coming out of the lower portion of the keel. Upon further inspection there was indeed a small crack along the bottom so I drilled a couple holes and let it drain. Well over the years when it would rain some water would end up in the bilge (a different problem in itself) and I noticed that when there was water in the bilge the drips would return on the bottom of the keel. I collected some of the dripped water and it smells like bilge water so I think it's safe to say I have a leak through my keel up to the bilge.

I was in the bilge today and trying to clean it up as best I could. I was told the P.O. had put fiberglass in the bilge to seal it up - when I look at it I don't see much fiberglass is looks like there's a layer of epoxy that was poured into the bottom. When I pressed on the edges of the epoxy layer I could see bilge water get forced up and out of the edges of it, so the "layer of epoxy" is obviously not doing it's job.

I just can't seem to think of any way to get down there to fix the problem. My arms don't reach down there - the crazy thought I had was to cut an access hole in the side of the keel to be able to grind/sand away what's needed to do a proper repair.

Anybody else have any thoughts? Attached is a photo, but it's hard to see the cracks along the edges.

20190529_132158.jpg

Thanks,

Tyler
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Afrakes

Sustaining Member
Extensions

Did a similar repair on my former 73' 27. Made up a series of sanding pads out of 1/4" plywood. Used spray adhesive to attach the paper. I screwed long, flat wooden handles to the pads and scrubbed away. After a thorough cleaning with detergent and then acetone I used 40 grit paper to rough up the bottom and sides. Did this over the off season so could take my time and make sure that the bilge was dry before glassing with polyester resin and cloth. Can be done, but no fun at all. You may have to drill holes in the bottom of the bilge to get all the water you can out of there. Hack away at the epoxy with a 1" chisel firmly taped to a shortened broom stick. I remember using hose clamps around the chisel and broom stick and then taping. Good luck.
 

Tyler Donley

Junior Member
Did a similar repair on my former 73' 27. Made up a series of sanding pads out of 1/4" plywood. Used spray adhesive to attach the paper. I screwed long, flat wooden handles to the pads and scrubbed away. After a thorough cleaning with detergent and then acetone I used 40 grit paper to rough up the bottom and sides. Did this over the off season so could take my time and make sure that the bilge was dry before glassing with polyester resin and cloth. Can be done, but no fun at all. You may have to drill holes in the bottom of the bilge to get all the water you can out of there. Hack away at the epoxy with a 1" chisel firmly taped to a shortened broom stick. I remember using hose clamps around the chisel and broom stick and then taping. Good luck.

I appreciate the reply! I'm glad I'm not alone - I'm going to try the chisel today and see if I can get any of the material out. I also had a thought of maybe picking up one of these to sand the bottom out - the body is only 3.5" wide so I think it would fit down there and give me the reach I need. If not, looks like I'll be hand sanding!!
 
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