Yesterday we had Juicy Blue lifted onto her trailer and took the opportunity to inspect her keel.

It looks as if the GRP panels on both sides are no longer completely bonded to the keel and there are several holes where presumably the "rivets", to which the maual refers, were once located.

I think water has got into the cavity in the keel (because there is red rust around the edges of the panels and I'm pretty sure I saw water coming out of one of the holes).

I suspect a proper repair would require the keel to be lifted out and the GRP panels removed and re-seated.

Does anyone have any relevant experience or advice, even on simply removing and replacing the keel ?

Thanks in advance.

PS I have some photos which I could post if I knew how, but can share on dropbox.

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Hi, I remember seeing the Keels at the works in Boston. Bill had them Shotblast and then immediately gave them two coats of epoxy primer before bonding in the panels and then anti-fouling. Before lifting the keel out you need to remove the 4 bolts from the bracket supporting the lifting pulleys,accessible from inside the cabin. At Bucklers hard they have a simple gantry with an old fashioned chain hoist and this will be ideal to extract my keel when the time comes. Weighing 300kg it would be too much to manhandle I would suggest so if the boat is on it's trailer it could be wheeled out of the way and the keel lowered safely to the ground. The same technique used to lift the keel in once the panels have been re-furbished

Peter P235 Zephyr