brass keelquard repair

H

Hunkydory

Active member
On our Alaska trip last year we hit rock or ice hard enough to bend the brass keelguard and chip out a chunk of gel coat. Have temporary sealed the chip and will do further repair to the gel coat which is not a problem. Do have doubts on ability to straighten the brass properly.

Called Dave at C-Dory to price new brass strip. They are out and He is getting ready to order new batch, but couldn't give cost estimate right now. If the price is low enough will purchase new brass if not will hopefully go with someones suggestion on straightening.

By the way I got straight through to Dave on the first call. Hope when I call back in a week as He suggested it goes as smooth.

Jay
 
Jay,

Once you get the brass replaced, you might want to look into one of those plastic "KeelGuard" strips. I purchased and installed a white 10 foot strip and it works wonders. It takes a little time to install if you want it to look perfect (maybe an hour or so) and I applied bottom paint to it which makes it practically dissapear when you look at the bow since the white color matches the C-Dory white.

From what I can tell, it does not affect handling, speed or mileage, at least not that I can tell and it does a good job of deflecting the floating gunk you find in SE Alaska waters.

"Chivita" Dave
 
Dave

Good to know the keelquard worked for you. I have considered it, but didn't think it would work without wrinkles due to the contour of the keel. That should really help protect when nosing into shore. Think the damage to the brass was done when going to shore not to far north of you in Waterfall Cove off Slocum Arm of Khaz Bay. Felt a pretty good bump while getting bow close to shore. Doubt if there would have been any damage if I would have had the keelquard already installed.

Jay
 
Jay,

We ordered Naknek from the factory without the brass strip, and I asked Les to install the KeelGuard during the original rigging.

His installation was perfect (no wrinkles or gaps) and it has worked very well ever since. Yesterday I noticed a slight nick in the bottom of the KeelGuard (probably occurred the last time I was a Powell), I'm sure if it wasn't there the fiberglass would have taken a hit.

I think the KeelGuard is a very practical item.

Casey
C-Dory Naknek
Lake Montezuma, AZ
 
If one really wants and prefers the keelGuard on a boat that already has the brass strip, it would be very simple to remove the strip, plug the holes with MarineTex epoxy filler, and then add the KeelGuard.

As a matter of fact, when you think about it, the brass strip is an obsolete way of protecting the keel, as it only protects the very center of the keel's curve, is easily distorted and/or bent up, and really won't prevent serious damage from a serious collision with a rock or deadhead. It does have some protection for the boat when going on an off a trailer, but so does the KeelGuard. Additionally, the holes for the brass strip are problematic in themselves.

The new boats should really be offered stock/standard with the KeelGuard, IMHO.

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Thanks Dave and Casey. I'm convinced--will be ordering the Keelquard today. Also think I will add Skuffquard to the area between where the boat trailer cable connects to the eye and the top of the bow. Am getting damage to the gel coat there from deploying and retrieving the oversize anchor. The Skuffquard is made by the same company that makes Keelquard and is bendable so easy to attach the 4.5'' x 5.75'' sections of 22 ga stainless steel with the self adhesive 3M around the contours of the bow.

Jay
 
Thanks Joe, you posted while I was writting that last bit. Think I will follow your advice and just seal off the old holes and use the Keelquard. Before your post was already wondering how that might work.

Jay
 
Our last boat was a Boston Whaler that we beachd quite often in the Puget Sound. I put Keelguard on it myself, and it worked perfectly for 10 years on that boat (I sold it before buying Notayot). When we purchased Notayot, we had Les put the Keelguard on over the existing brass stem. It has worked fine for 3 seasons and hundreds of hours in the water. We do beach Notayot from time to time to go ashore, and I had a run-in with my trailer during a retrieval. The Keelguard has protected us from everything so far. I have heard that some don't like the look of the Keelguard as it takes away from the "salty" look. That may be true, but I like the forgiveness of the soft Keelguard.
 
Dennis, I'm with you on the forgiveness over the "salty" look. When it comes to a choice of either looking "salty" or the boat being set up for "salty" I prefer the latter. Think its best to rig, so as to protect them in there planned use. That said, when we were at the 2006 Lake Powell Gathering with Naknek didn't notice any difference in appearance with Casey's use of Keelquard.

Jay
 
Update

Repair of the brass keelguard was very simple with a little heat from propane torch. Straight as when new. Bad news following removal of brass strip was water seeping out of three screw holes. No more than a couple drops followed by dampness around the holes for several days now. Slightly over drilled the two seeping holes and inserted wicks today. Doesn't seem to be any wood in this area and fiberglass feels solid. The seeping is now coming out of the holes located in the lowest part of the forward V in the keel and the first one to drip and then seep was the last hole for the brass toward the stern. The first one to seep is now totally dry. Don't think the water came from the the small chip in the gel coat where the brass was bent being that was toward the bow end of the brass. Could be all the going to shore and rubbing on this area moved things just enough to allow for moisture to enter around screw holes. If you have set up like this and most do, might be good idea to check out area especially if you use that section to beach the boat like us.

Does anyone know if the area that is seeping has balsa coring and is there anything I should do beside making sure all the moisture is wicked out and then reseal.

Jay
 
Jay – Ben Toland, Bill (Da Nag) and I were just talking about the balsa coring of the C-Dory today and Ben said the balsa coring of the hull stops at the V-Berth. That part of the hull under the V-Berth does not have any balsa coring.

Some members have had a problem with water getting between the rode locker and hull because of a improper seal of the locker drain. It then fills the area under the V-berth. I wonder if that can be your problem and when you removed the keel guard screws, the water is weeping out.
________
Dave dlt.gif
 
Thanks Dave, that confirms what I thought, but wasn't sure of. The previous owner filled the area under the V-berth with foam to help with noise in chop, so there can't be a lot of room for water there. Will check out the seal on the locker drain.

Without any balsa in that area how concerned should I be with getting all the moisture out before resealing. Real low humidity here in Wyoming. Sure sucks the moisture out of a human. Hope it does the same with the boat.

Jay
 
Set up of locker drain is somewhat of a puzzle to me. The drain is located over an inch higher than locker bottom, so there is always some water in bottom of locker untill the water evaporates. Also the drain hole that goes out the side of the bow is a 3/8" hole drilled with no sealant where it passes through the hull which looks to be about an inch thick or maybe slightly less. Sealed the drain hole edges with a light coat of marine tex.

No moisture out of screw holes now. Am still going to let it dry for another week before sealing and adding keelguard.

Through this process I've come up with one real good thing. With the area under the V-berth filled with foam couldn't fill that area with water by striking a rock or debris and that area appears to be sealed from the rest of boat, so will be abit more relaxed around ice, rocks and such on our future cruises. Have been concerned at times if we holed the bow area below the water line the boat would probably not be usable for long.

Jay
 
Just read the thread "Water coming out of V-Birth drain area" in the Hull Deck & Fittings forum. Should have read it before posting on this thread. It has good information on the brass keelquard and water intrusion through the screw holes and repair ideas.

Jay
 
Jay - Yellowstone here. Saw your post of the subject. You mentioned that a"previous owner filled the space under the forward berth with foam,"
If I'm not mistaken, the factory has always filled that area with foam. A number of years ago when I still had my original 22' CD, the topic of screws causing water to seep in made me so curious that I cut out a nice round hole in the vertical part at the front (filled in with a gasketed clear screw-in inspection plate) and found it filled with that hard foam you could cut out with a knife. Everything was bone dry. Are you going to get to Yellowstone Lake this summer? Take care.
John
 
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