Used some extra jack stands to jack the boat up and have the keel hanging free:
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| 800 lbs hanging free |
I had fashoned some wedges from hardward on the table saw the night before. I took my sawsall and opened up the two ends of the keel, and drove wedges into the gap.
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| That is daylight near the front!! |
The keel would not drop! I went into the boat, and removed the stainless plate around the keel bolts and took as much of the Sifaflex off around the keel bolts as possible. John Scurr helped me, brought a large "drift" and we pounded on the bolts to free them. Would not budge!
I think I screwed myself last spring. I had epoxied and glassed around the keel bolts. They will not budge!
On a Catalina 22 iron fin keel, with badly rusted bolts, (not really bolts but all-thread,) I am replacing the "bolts" with 5" stainless steel bolts. The bilge is dirtier than all the pictures I've seen on the net. There must have been lots of salt water over a long period of time. Yeah for being rich and having a slip with power to run a bilge pump.
ReplyDeleteAfter cleaning and bedding the keel hull joint, I intend on filling the keel bolt holes with expoy, but first treating them with wax, to release the bolt. When fully cured, I will torque the bolts.