Pearson Ariel Keel-bolts?

[sinbin]

Cool story. Personally, I've had the sailing habit since the 80's, and have never heard of internal ballast breaking loose from a rollover. Did see one loosened by rocks, though. I wonder if any Ariel has actually been rolled. There is a caution somewhere about the lead pig in the bilge of my engineless boat. Consequently I shimmed it up years ago.
I think we're all better off with internal ballast. People have lost their lives in the past when their bolted on keel just fell off and the boat turned turtle.
Your trip reminds me one I crewed on from Moss Landing to Catalina on a Yankee 28 ( internal ballast). The skipper had lots of Dutch Courage, I was scared sober, so together we made it through.
Thanks for the reminder. Time to read Coles again.

[carl291]

Well I share this with you, I destroyed a Pearson Ariel some time ago. The keel was cut off and hauled to a yard to remove the lead from the keel. It was picked up with a huge diesel frontend loader and raised to a height of about 10 feet and dropped on a solid concrete pad. It was drop about five times before the keel parted and then four or five more times to break the lead free of the keel. After seeing this I have no worries about the lead breaking loose in a roll or pitch pole.

[sinbin]

That's impressive. It sounds like something Steve O would do. Have to admit to being grounded once. My bilges are still dry and the spiders like it too. I think if I had an old wooden boat with corroded fasteners, I'd be very worried about the keel staying in place. Come to think of it, if I was in pitch pole conditions, I'd be worried about a lot of things.

[Ed Ekers]

Great sea story about trying to get to Santa Cruz. I have made that trip dozens of times. My question is have you made it to Santa Cruz yet. There are a few Ariels calling Santa Cruz home port and would enjoy a visit with you dockside………ed

[pbryant]

I asked the folks at Seaworthy what their opinion was, and I'll share their answer. I'm including my question for context. I am made more concerned about this issue because, sometimes when I heel my Ariel past about 30 degrees -- I hear a resounding "THUD!" that shakes the boat. I'm pretty sure that's the ballast flopping from one side to the other inside the keel. It shakes the boat sufficiently that, the first few times it happened, I thought I'd had a rigging failure. The sound comes distinctly from the bottom of the boat. After sailing her for three years, I can find no other explanation.

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Question:
Seaworthy:,

I own a 1963 Pearson Ariel that I sail in the Pacific out of Half Moon Bay, CA. The Ariel has an encapsulated ballast consisting of 2,300 pounds of lead. The lead ballast sits in a wedge-shaped cavity in the keel, and is covered in the bilge by a layer of epoxy. There is a gap between the inside of the surrounding fiberglass and the lead, left there for the purpose of allowing thermal expansion of the lead to prevent fracturing the fiberglass. On some models (I'm uncertain about my boat), the gap is filled with foam. My question is this: if the boat is ever rolled to an inverted attitude (heeled to 180 degrees), will the ballast fall out of the keel? The consequences would of course be catastrophic, resulting in loss of the vessel (immediate sinking from water entering through the ruptured cabin top) and likely loss-of-life if anyone were in the cabin (the most likely place I would be in conditions extreme enough to roll the boat). The Ariel has an angle of vanishing stability of 170 degrees and a modified full keel, so she is quite stable. Because of that stability, members of the Pearson Ariel Association know of no cases where an Ariel has been rolled (maybe the skippers never lived to tell the tale). I consider the survivability of a roll occurrence to be one of my personal criteria for seaworthiness.

Patrick

Answer:
Patrick,

These are solid little boats, and very stable, but also relatively small. In extreme conditions offshore it could be rolled. The lead did have a resin bond, originally with sufficient psi strength, but over time (with thermal expansion, salt water intrusion, flexing, etc.) that bond could well have broken. This boat will right itself quickly in any capsize, so the chances of the lead breaking free while inverted is unlikely, but there is some slight possibility. Any sailboat that goes offshore needs to be able to survive a roll. This boat likely would, but likely isn't good enough. There are two things you can do to eliminate the remote possibility of the lead breaking free in a capsize. #1 is to pump a thin, very slow curing, epoxy resin into the gap between the fiberglass cap and the lead, filling the gap and any crevices that might exist between the lead and the fiberglass. Do this on a warm day, and the risk of damage to the hull, via thermal expansion of the lead, is minimal. #2 is to put structural beams over the top of the lead by epoxying in 1-2 inch wide beams of a composite like G10. You would need to talk to a naval architect to get an exact calculation of beam size and placement, but a half dozen 1-2 inch wide beams with 4-6 inches epoxied to the hull on either side of the fiberglass cap would likely do the job. Either of those "fixes" alone would eliminate the small likelihood of the lead breaking free. The two together would be a complete belt and suspenders solution.

Seaworthy: Beth Leonard

[sinbin]

Sounds like the last word. Thanks for the info.

[mbd]

Wow. Last word indeed. Thanks for sharing that Patrick.

So I drilled a few holes in the keel to make sure I didn't collect water in there over the last couple of seasons while I've been on the hard. I've been thinking of using those holes to inject polyester resin to fill the keel void. Patrick's note above said inject "epoxy resin into the gap between the fiberglass cap and the lead". Not exactly what that means, sure but it sounds like they're suggesting injecting from the top? I always figured I'd just be putting something solid in there so water wouldn't have anywhere to accumulate. Also, is there any reason NOT to use polyester resin, the cheap stuff? I'm guessing epoxy wouldn't really adhere to anything down there anyway.