keel attachment

[Joe Nelson CS#35]

I really dont want to put screws through my keel batten to attach the keel/skeg to the bottom of my CS 20. I am thinking of just attaching with wood flour/silica filled epoxy, doing a small fillet on both sides and cutting a piece of fiberglass to cover the keel and wrap it over to the hull. Is this going to be sufficient? I could put screws into the deepest part of the keel in the rear compartment...not so much finishing would be necessary there. I've already got the interior painted and dont want to mess that up...plus I have a layer of glass over the top of the keel batten.

[Tom Williams]

Here's what I did on my CS17

Epoxied the keel batten to the hull with thickened epoxy (wood flour). I pulled this down with screws driven in from the bottom which came out when I faired the bottom.

When I epoxied and screwed the keel to the bottom, I coutersunk the keel & used long enough bronze screws to grab the batten. My batten is clear with the exception of one spot where a screw point came through (nothing a little sanding didn't fix).

Hope this helps!

Tom

[Ken_Potts]

Tom - So your keel is not glassed over?

I have been planning to coat the keel with epoxy but not glass it...

[Brent]

I did something very similiar to Tom's approach: held the keel down with temporary screws while the epoxy set, then removed the screws and filled the holes with epoxy. Nice big fillets connect the keel to the hull. Three years, ok so far.

I did not glass the keel, but doing so is something to consider. I found that over time small curves formed in the wood keel that exactly match the size and location of the keel rollers on the trailer. I recommend doing something to protect the keel from this type of damage and the abrasion that comes from grounding the vessel. I ended up with a UHMW strip along the bottom of the keel, which is OK. If I was doing it again I would consider using a sacrifical hard wood strip on the bottom of the keel or maybe even a brass strip. The boat slides up the trailer very smoothly with the UHMW strip bearing the load.

The problem with glassing the keel is that if there is damage as described above the glass could end up holding water in the wood leading to rot. Glass will provide considerable abrasion resistance, but would need to be monitored and repaired as necessary.

[Tom Williams]

I did run a piece of 6 oz. glass over the bottom fo the keel for extra abarsion resistance (probably an over kill). I used white oak for the keel so I'm hoping its hardness and rot resistance will accomidate a few nicks and scrapes. I don't ever plan to have the boat in the water for more than a week or two at a time.

Tom

[JeffM]

Tom, I found screws were essential in getting the keel tight against the bottom. My mistake was in not waxing the screws first--some of these plain exterior screws are now permanent parts of the boat. I took the advice of others not to glass the keel so as not to give water a place to hide in a banged-up keel. I did use 3/4 brass half-oval, as suggested in the plans--a very good idea. Only problem is that the keel (being 5/4) projects a bit beyond the brass on each side, and my careless beachings on pebbly and shingly beaches has chewed thru the epoxy there. I plan to grind the wood down closer to the brass edge and re-coat in epoxy. White oak sounds like a good choice--mine's doug fir.

[Joe Nelson CS#35]

I am glad to hear that I am in good company...not screwing down the keel. Thanks for the input. I feel better now.

[Aaron_G]

I screwed and glued the keel after fiberglassing the entire bottom of the boat. I needed to screw it down in order to epoxy to the boat. I counter sunk each screw, then filled in the holes.

I figured between 1/4" - 1/2" of thickened epoxy between the keel batten and the bottom of the hull for calculating how deep the drill bit should go. I marked the depth for each hole on the drill bit using a sharpie so I was sure that I didn't go to far. As a back up, I would pull the bit out frequenty to check the color of the chips: brown, still in Okume; white, now in the thickened epoxy; brown again, into the keel batten and time to stop. I'll know how well I did when I flip the boat over.

BTW, online metals doesn't seem to sell the brass half rounds. Anyone know of a place online to get this?

[Joe Nelson CS#35]

Try Jamestown Distributors for half round.