I've been having a good look at the keel repairs Troppo did. I'm interested because Blue Moon seems to have an issue with the underside of the keel as well. I am not sure what is going on down there. It is not leaking, but the starboard side of the keel, for two-thirds of its length from the front, is about 10mm lower than the port side. Shaun says it was like that when he bought the boat and it has never given him any trouble, but it makes me uneasy. From what I can understand, these boats were built in two halves and then joined afterwards. I wasn't sure if that was correct, but there appears to be a join in Troppo's photos of the underside of his keel. I am not sure if Blue Moon's keel has been patched or if the joint has split and the starboard side is bulging down. There appears to be glass tape over the stepped centreline.
Are there any reports of other Top Hats with similar issues?
I was also a bit dismayed to see Troppo's photos of the ballast, with its mixture of lead and ferrous scrap, and what appears to be significant airspace down there. I sure wish I had a Baker-built Mk 1 with a solid lead casting! Solid all over in fact! As a young man working in the boatbuilding industry in Sydney in the 1970s, I heard stories about the quality of boats built by Formit Fibreglass. Shipwrights used to make cruel jokes about them. It doesn't mean the boats are unseaworthy. Alan Nebauer's boat was built the same year as Blue Moon and did some hard sailing on the way to Canada and back. But there was certainly some economising.
Once again, has anybody other than Troppo (and maybe me!) had issues with the ballast?