Holes in my keel, holes in my heart

sorry for the long post, but I am panicking...

Spring came to NYC and we started in on the Augusta (our Commander) last week. We picked up with the massive portside hole and have started laying glass. The previous hole, which was a 4-inch puncture with 2 feet of delaminated glass, was filled with bondo and then painted over. Jude's (the other owner of the boat) patch is halfway done and looks perfect - now we build up the outside.

While he was doing that, I started peeling the paint off the keel. We want to strip all of the paint and prime the whole boat in one go.

When peeling, I decided to drill some drainage holes and get the rest of the water out of the hull. Then I notice, finally, what looks like a bondo repair - look at the bottom of the keel – the slightly lighter red area is the repair.

Yes, that slightly red area does go the entire length of the keel.

I first drilled some drainage holes on Sunday and watched my boat leak like a sieve for 20 minutes. I get worse water pressure from my shower at home. I went through bondo first before fiberglass pretty much everywhere I drilled.

I left it alone and came back today to grind out the offending bondo. It looks like the previous owner all but tore the keel off the boat. And then, he did a crappy repair of the whole thing. I don’t know who fixed this, but it’s crap. Most of the bondo I removed was soaked like mud – this must be a sponge in the water. There is one layer of fiberglass mat in most places, some matting in others and a nearly 1/2 inch thick layer of bondo - note the pile of pink powder below the boat – then it was primed and painted. I didn't even touch the fiberglass and I'm sure I'm not done with the hull.

This seems like a huge problem to me – I’m sure it is. But how huge? We don’t want to scrap the boat (the idea was discussed), but don’t know how to proceed. How can we make this boat safe? Jude wants to build the existing hull up with matting and roving – the same way the hull was built, but a lot thicker. We have no idea how to get under the boat – the bondo is a candy shell over the whole keel and there are at least 4 holes with major delamination over the center and back of the keel.

I’m going to lose sleep over this, I know it. I wanted to camp at the yard just to bee there when the keel gives way and powders our boat.

The keel has no strength or integrity & I’m not sure how it’s supporting the boat. Any suggestions or advice? Has anyone rebuilt a keel before?

Only thing to do now is grind until you get fresh glass. Dry it out as best you can. Build up new glass. Some might use vinylester resin.

I might be a little hesitant grinding too much of the keel at one time and thinning it out too much, although it would probably be OK. You could do it in sections 2 feet or so at a time. Wrap the new glass around the bottom to the other side.

Doesn't have to be pretty. Grind the new glass reasonably smooth.

The boat probably grounded on rocks and got pounded up and down for a long time. The repair was poor, but it worked. I'm not sure how far you want to open this can of worms. Water in the keel void has nowhere to go, so its not going to sink the boat.

I really don't see cause to panic, just more work. Get out the angle grinder, 36 grit, no fooling around. If the grinder doesn't reach underneath the boat, you can use an electric drill with a sanding drum.