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the owner of this 1960 Ketch says an uncharted rock stopped his ride quite suddenly, and thereafter nearly sank.
I am a professional carpenter who’s been hired to fix the boat, and I would like to hear your opinion.
The owner has asked me to re-fasten the ballast (keel), but I feel this is not necessary as since it was not knocked off by the hard grounding (under way at about 4-5 knots – full stop) it’s probably OK. (point of contact was the leading edge of the ballast, at the bottom)
In my opinion, the collision undoubtedly caused motion in/amongst the bottom boards, opening the seams and letting in water, so a correct repair should involve re-fastening the bottom boards, caulking and seaming as necessary, all of them, not the keel,Ideas?
thanks ~g
I am owned by a 1969 Dickerson wood ketch.
I’d check the keelson to see if the nuts on the keel bolts were pulled down into the wood. Might be a clue as to what amount of the impact that keel and its supporting timber had to bear. If the yard where the boat is kept had a lot of power cords hooked up to boats there could be alot of stray current in the water, which could cause the keel bolts to get a “wasp waist” where the lead joins the wood.
Might be a good idea to undo the bolt nuts from the inside to see if any of the bolts shear to check their strength. The impact could have weaked them.
Wooden Boat magazine has a great forum for repair questions as well.
thank you so much Rainbow1969 for a gr8 response – lots of good info there. i had observed that the rod-tops @ keelson lookd normal, excellent suggestion about giving them a turn or so
i actually got in there today and started removing bungs and screws, (from bottom boards) and as soon as i got to the keel area, sure enough, the screws were severely keyholed and just barely holding -some had held fast to the keelson, and pulled through the boards, but most had stripped out of the big beam. reckon some bigger screws (about 500 of them) and a few new boards and we’ll be good
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