Keel Delamination & Osmosis

[Dave Whyman]

I was rigging up the boat today an noticed that one side of my keel (the above water portion) had delaminated from the steel.  It looks like water got in around one of the bolts and over the winter it froze.

Then i went under to check the rest of the keel and found hundreds of 1/4 inch bubbles over almost the entire bottom of the hull.

Has anyone ever had either of these problems before?  How were they fixed.

Probably 3/4 of the bottom will have to be patched, and the best way to finish it is to spray the entire bottom.  Will this contravene the class rules?

[André Labelle]

Dave

Has the boat hit something ?  Are you the 1st owner ?

I have never seen osmosis on a U20 but it could happen if water got under the skin... after an impact ?

I have however seen a U20 with glue that had not dried properly with the same results.  The core delaminated and water made its way under the skin.

André

[Dave Whyman]

Probably 3/4 of the bottom has blisters.  The boat is about 10 year old, but I don't think the previous owner kept it in the water.  When I got it last year the hull looked perfect.  There don't seem to be any soft spots.  I suspect it is thin Gelcoat and a good cold winter that did it in.

I decided to sand down the top part of the keel and put on Interprotect as a temporary measure.  As for the bottom, it will have to wait until winter.  I am looking at having the entire bottom done with Interprotect and then Performance Epoxy.  The keel will come out and get redone at the same time.  This is going to be expensive...

[Trent Watkins]

Layla - Tom and Trish's boat had a bad case of bumps when they picked her up in Washington. It was kept in the lake for long periods of time.

The bumps have gone away over time via keeping her parked on the trailer and warm summers etc.

The bumps might go away after some warm dry yard storage.

As for the keel - yikes never seen that happen before. What Hull#?

[Dave Whyman]

It's #91, a 1998.  It came from California.  Previous owner doesn't appear to have raced it much.    I think this was the first winter it ever saw.