Ballast?

[Troppo]

Windchaser is up on the slip and I am doing a repair I started last year. Last time she was up I found a very small and ancient crack right under the keel and water had got into the sealed ballast section. Last year I drilled a small exploratory hole and it was still leaking fluid almost 2 weeks later. Put an emergency patch on it.

Today I removed the emergency patch. It had worked better than I expected and only a cupful or two of water leaked out. Then thick chemical smelling fluid.

I tapped on the keel and where it sounded hollow I drilled an exploratory access hole. Very interesting. To repair the hole will require several packets of chewing gum (need to be well chewed but there are plenty of boat club members hanging around telling me what I should be doing so I will get them to each chew a bit for me and maybe they will be quiet while chewing).

Access hole

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My intention was to (a) pump water and detergent through the lower part of the keel to remove the chemical crap so when I go to put a fibreglass patch underneath it will set and stick better and (b) push warm air through to help dry it out.

Close up, access hole.

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When I cut the hole, I was shocked to find the ballast is lead ingot and waste metal like small bolts and screws, I guess most of it is ferrous. I am also guessing that oil or something had been poured in to stop the waste metal from rusting.

Scrap metal ballast

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I didn't try to pump air through it today, with all the waste metal it may not be as easy as I thought. Water flows through from my access hole to the hole underneath so I am hopeful.

Okay, do I try and use detergent to get rid of the dripping oily chemical stuff so the bottom patch can take?

Do I do the bottom patch and pour oil or something in to stop the scrap screws and bolts from rusting?

Any other suggestions?

troppo

[frank]

Interesting find there. I'm no expert but have made lots of surfboards over the years. The most important thing is getting a clean dry surface for your fiberglass plug to adhere to.if you're going to flush it of the gunk then do it and let it drain then flush it again with a wax and grease remover, let it dry then bore out your holes again back to clean dry glass and plug away before any more crap seeps out. Hope that helps in some way. Cheers Frank

[bearmcnally]

Hello troppo
When we built Jilpanger my Father placed 55 lb lead ingots in the keel and mixed sand and resin together and poured it around the lead to seal and hold the ingots in place .
Look at the good side ? at least that might explain some of those strange rattles when you tack !

Cheers Bear

[Troppo]

. . . .
Look at the good side ? at least that might explain some of those strange rattles when you tack !

Cheers Bear

And here I was thinking that rattling noise was just my tinnitus playing up.

troppo

[Phillip]

Could you just pump resin in to hold everything together, but would it go off even with the oil around?

Windchaser was built by Formit?

That rattle may actually be on the other side of the lead

[frank]

It should gi off but be careful as in a large volume it will generate quite some heat and expand. Id go for a slow cure or do multiple pours.

[Troppo]

Update: Every day I am pouring some detergent and water into the access hole I cut and it drains out the bottom hole. After the water has gone, a small seepage of oil starts up again. However, the amount seems to be diminishing. I will keep doing it for a few more days.

I tested the next phase today. I have a hot air gun I can set at say 70 degrees C and it fits exactly into the hole I cut (gee that is a coincidence!) and it can push air into the sealed ballast section and out the hole in the bottom of the keel. When the oil finally stops weeping, I will work elsewhere on the boat and leave the air gun running to have warm air going through the keel to dry it.

If I do end up pouring epoxy in, I can assure you I won't put too much in at once. It is amazing how hot the epoxy gets when setting. I knew a guy who collected insects and would set them in clear epoxy. He caught a huge spider and so needed to mix up a bigger batch of epoxy than he had ever done before. He did not realise how hot it would get. Turned some of the spider to black carbon.

As Frank also said, cleaning the area before gluing and cutting a fresh surface is beneficial. Last year I did exactly that when I put the emergency patch on. I worked out I could flush with metho and cut fresh surface and slap a patch on before more muck seeped down. Did it and later saw the muck was seeping through some of the epoxy and fibreglass cloth as the epoxy was trying to set. I thought it was a failure but as I said above, I was very surprised when I took the patch off three days ago just how well it had stuck. Very good advice.

troppo