Ariel #24

[Tim Mertinooke]

Made the hour drive to check out the boat a couple days ago when the temps were below zero. I must say that the more time I spend poking around this thing the more I love it. It strikes a perfect balance for my intended use...can't wait until summer. The bulge in the keel had some ice protruding out of it. I think the water expansion idea was correct. Does anyone know if the void in the aft part of the keel prone to water intrusion is open to the space between the hull and the lead ballast or is the lead ballast completely sealed from the void? I'm just trying to track the direction the water traveled to get a better idea of the what the abyss of my keel looks like. My plan is to add a plug at the bottom just in front of the shoe to drain the water that may collect every season. If it is all open down there, then the water that finds its way between the lead and the hull should drain from the plug aft of it assuming the boat is tilted back a tad. I think anyway...

I also picked away at the laminate covering the rudder shoe. It came off pretty easy with a screwdriver. There seemed to be a greenish grey fairing compound that was pretty well saturated covered by one layer of fiberglass which does seem to be non-factory as Ebb noted earlier. The shoe has a reddish caulk between it and the hull that was easy to peel out by hand. The shoe seemed just fine, no cracks, thin spots or corrosion that I could see and it is well attached to the hull with no play. The area did seem wet though with some evidence of water leaking out a little between the hull and the shoe where the ineffective caulk resided. The hull laminate was fine where the shoe was attached and didn't seem saturated. It's exposed to the air now so it should start to dry with the warmer weather coming, then I will assess what the next step with that will be. I wish the foot of snow we still have in the yard will just go away already.