STRANGE - is My Boat Going to Sink ?

[READY2GO]

I have a 1970 Coranado 25 sloop with a fixed keel. The keel is about 8' long. the boat has a 3'8" draft. The keel itself is about 2'6" tall, it has 2000 lbs of steel in it and is totally encased with fiberglass. There are four bolts sticking up into the bilge area from the keel. The bilge pump was not working, so I purchased another and was installing it when something strange happened. I took the two screws out that held the old bilge pump tto the bottom of the bilge area. When I was installing the new one, I used new screws that were a little longer and fatter.

As I was installing the screw there was a "hissing" noise like that of puncturing a tire. No water just air. What could this possibly be?

Also those four bolts are rusted really bad. Is this of major concern?

Thanks for any thoughts

[David M]

Since we can't see it in person, I would have it looked at by a boat yard as soon as possible.

[FrankZ]

The keel on a Coronado 25 is lead, not steel and is fully encapsulated. I am really not sure why those bolts are there. I have deconstructed one and the keel is going no where, even without the bolts.

I am not sure why it would have started hissing at you. The actual ballast is about nice inches of fiberglass below the bottom of the bilge. Yours may be different than mine. I have hull 401 and is a 1966. The one I deconstructed was hull 211 (1965).

[Ex-Calif]

Here's my theory - The Coronado has a liner. The liner must make some sealed pockets.

The temps were up and the cavity was presurized - you penetrated the liner cavity with the longer screw and the air released.

Out boat has a liner with foam between it and the hull throughout the cabin area. As we now know it leaks as the floor deflected and was squishy. We had to dry it out and tried to seal it - It's a feature, not a defect!

Note to self - The big boat will not have a liner and the entire hull will be accessible through floorboards.

[kbcook]

Frank Z -
Hi, I noticed an old post of yours and I'm very curious. I have a Coronado 25 and I'm really concerned about my keel bolts. The top end of three original keel bolts are very rusted. There appear to be no bolts. What's left of them are about three inches of the bolt protruding through small blocks of wood. Each block sits about 2 and 1/2 inches high off the bilge liner and are about three inches square. They seem to be permanently attached to the bilge liner (possibly epoxied or glassed at the bottom) and I can't tell if there is some sort of bolting scheme underneath each of the blocks and in between the liner and the keel itself.
You say you've deconstructed a keel on a Coronado 25. Can you tell me more about what you found and what your opinion is on the overall construction of the Coronado 25 keel. I'm not sure if that keel is really permanently bonded and going nowhere (like you say) or if I'm one wave away from catastrophic failure.

Thanks!!

k

[FrankZ]

Originally Posted by kbcook

You say you've deconstructed a keel on a Coronado 25. Can you tell me more about what you found and what your opinion is on the overall construction of the Coronado 25 keel. I'm not sure if that keel is really permanently bonded and going nowhere (like you say) or if I'm one wave away from catastrophic failure.

Thanks!!

k

I helped remove the lead ballast from one keel of a Coronado 25. It was real work to get the lead out. The bolts in the bilge don't appear to be holding the keel on, the lead is encapsulated.

[READY2GO]

Kbcook
There is a Coronado 25 group on yahoo that can be a great help to you.

[kbcook]

Hi Frank - I'm still trying to figure out two things then: if those bolts aren't holding the keel, what is their purpose and how is the keel fastened to the hull?

[kbcook]

Yes, thanks, I'm a member of the Yahoo Coronado 25 group and have been following several threads. This was the first thread though that I've seen where there's been mention of actually dismantling the keel from the hull.

[FrankZ]

Why the bolts are there I do not know. I suspect something from building (maybe when the put the lead in).

The keel is part of the hull. The ballast is placed down in there and then was glassed in.

Some bolts use keel bolts to hold an external keel to the boat. The Coronado 25 isn't one of those.

[buzzzerk]

just a thought . . .

The bolts may have been used by a lift device to lower the lead into the keel