I ended up with a problem with my Weekender due to the keel being encapsulated. The builder (not me) did not epoxy the keel boards together properly, leaving voids between the boards. Then he encapsulated the keel in fiberglass, which sealed it.
I beach it a lot, so of course eventually the fiberglass wore through, and exposed the wood - and the voids! Insta-leak. In the middle of a day out on Lake Washington, my fiancee says "Isn't there a lot of water in here?" I find water pouring through a crack in the keel right were it meets the bow (is this the "stem", I think?). of course at the time I didn't know the cause of the leak and we fired up the motor and high-tailed it back to the ramp, expecting any moment that the entire front of the boat was going to fall off! ;-) In retrospect, if we had just staying out on the lake and bailed, the wood probaby would have swelled up and the leak stopped. :-D
Anyway, now I have to flip the boat, shave the fiberglass off the bottom of the keel and pour penetrating epoxy into all the voids.
Just as soon as the snow melts...
Noel
