The dreaded Hollow Keel - again

[Away On Busine$$]

Como! I like your thought process, will be looking to do the same come spring.

[8lug]

73' f36
i dont have any pictures of what i did and not sure if its correct but
i took a hole saw bit that is 2" round and drilled far forward as i could go witch is just aft of the forward bilge
then come back rite in front of the steps drilled another hole
then went far aft as i could get witch is rite in front of my batteries
i then installed a self priming water puppy where the forward hole is, i mounted it there with assumption that she is bow heavy, but i will have the 3 site holes to monitor when i have it put in the water
here is the link
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/st ... mcghSSiW2A
i mounted the pump in the closet under the floor
i read a post where someone mentioned the smell would make a maggot gag
well he was spot on
over a month of bleaching,soaking,purple power, and mean green
after making sure the water will run forward to my pump pick up line i will reglass my other 2 holes and glass in my rubber pump line and put a rubber grommet in like this one
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/Rubber-Grommet-3MPT7

the smell is getting better
i think some one over the years replaced the black water lines and now we have maggots gagging

[Scorpion07]

Well, I drilled a hole in my F32's keel covering in the bilge just forward of the engine bay bulkhead and...........not what I expected. Very little water, and no smell? Regardless, I routed a hose to it, sealed it, hooked it to my shower drain pump, and voila! I have a simple means to pump out the offenders if it gets to that point. I did put some bleach in it to be sure. And I'll probably put a sealed acces port in the engine bay at the keels deepest point for further bleach treatments. By the way, we've decided to use the head as a head only. We never use it as a shower. But Now I really have to figure out where the smell is coming from. I replaced all the septic hoses last winter (no leaks) and am kinda suspect of the tank. Don't know its age. I also painted the V berth bay with bilge paint last year to insure against any emanating odors trapped in the wood.
So....being I have a very wet bilge, my last plan of attack is to rebed all my thru hulls and repack my stuffing boxes with the Gore packing, and tie in my cockpit hatch drain holes to the main scuppers to get the bilge as dry as possible. Then a coat of bilge paint and a solar vent on the bow to move the air through. And finally......if all of that doesn't work..........I'm livin with it!

[Cmount]

This is a picture of what I did. Opening up the hole and letting the water wash in and out has greatly impacted any smell. I am alwasy dumping either left over deck wash or bleach as well in the back and letting it take it's course. .

[Cmount]

http://s814.photobucket.com/user/CJMOUN ... sort=6&o=2

Trying again.

[Bigearl]

My F28 keel has a drain in it that is clearly not original. Someone prior to my ownership obviously drilled the keel and then plugged it with caulk and a coarse 3/8"screw with a square head. When I remove this "plug" and stick a screw driver into the hole water does run out. Before next launch I plan to sand the keel and immediately next to it on the bottom and epoxy seal this area. If anything leaks from the bilge into the keel I will simply drain it each year.
The keel has to be reasonably thick as the boat is supported on it while setting it on the hard.

[larryeddington]

Well you would think it would be thick, look at my pics above of cracked f28 keel, about 1/4 inch true bottom of boat is 3/4. I guess a 1/4 inch keel is all it takes. I for one do not understand the thick bottom and thin keel structure. Though it does seem to hold boat on cribbing.

[mikeandanne]

I put a brass transom drain in our boat in the center about a foot forward of the forward engine room bulkhead----- was going to put two in but could not access that area in the engine room ( too much stuff there already) ---- after asking Bob about the keel area, he said the reason they were not filled up was heating problems with that thickness of resin, so my guess is that every one of these boats will be different --- mine from the covering layer to the bottom of the hollow is about three inches at that spot----- the thing that got me interested was that there was some bleeding from the top of the keel in the spring and when I opened it up and sucked the water out that stopped right away----- amazing as it has been like this since 78----- have to go to boat and remove raw water pumps to rebuild so I will try to remember to take pics ,lol---- Mike

[larryeddington]

cmount, love that pretty white bilge

[Cmount]

Not so white now, but stayed pretty good. Thanks

[larryeddington]

Gonna open mine up at each end and install some kinda of pump. Not sure what I will use. Obviously the positive displacement pumps will work great but then it becomes another flexible impeller replacment issue. Might just put a hose from manual pump in there, it just needs pumping every now and then.

[mikeandanne]

As promised, not much to look at but,just opened it up to drain and nothing in there----- Mike

[Cmount]

So tonight I drilled the hole in the keel. Couldn't have been placed any better. The boat is dry and where I put it allowed me to wash the keel out with bleach, and dawn by washing from the bow and letting the water run out the keel, all under the subfloor. I will install the brass fitting over the weekend, but I am very happy with the placement. Just in case anyone is interested, here is that location. FYI I blocked the boat as she sits in the water... waterline is level.

http://s814.photobucket.com/user/CJMOUN ... t=3&page=1

[mikeandanne]

So tonight I drilled the hole in the keel. Couldn't have been placed any better. The boat is dry and where I put it allowed me to wash the keel out with bleach, and dawn by washing from the bow and letting the water run out the keel, all under the subfloor. I will install the brass fitting over the weekend, but I am very happy with the placement. Just in case anyone is interested, here is that location. FYI I blocked the boat as she sits in the water... waterline is level.

http://s814.photobucket.com/user/CJMOUN ... t=3&page=1

So this begs the question, how did you determine where to drill so that you would hit the void and how thick is the keel glass at that point----- interesting subject as I was interested to do exactly what you have done but did not have the inside access to decide where to drill----- Mike

[Cmount]

Really? All luck...I hit it right.