Forward Keel Bolt

[Pat T]

I removed the cabin sole to refinish over the winter. When I remove the section adjacent to the head I discovered the access panel to the fwd. keel bolt. Needless to say I did not know it existed. This section also appears to be holding water. Question; Is this section interconnected to the rest of the bilge? I would think it would be but mine appears to be clogged and the water was stale.

[jsc4484]

Hey Pat,
I don't know if you have a MKI or MKII. Mine is a MKI and yes there is a small V shape hole that the water passes through to the rest of the bildge.
Funny because I removed my sole also this past weekend, and after doing that I scrub the forward part of that section of the bilge.

Hope that helps

JEff

[LCBrandt]

My boat is a Mk II, and yes, there is a passage for water drainage back to the bilge pump compartment.

[Pat T]

I went back to check things out further yesterday. Before I left last time I sopped up the water (?) from the forward keelbolt cavity. The crud had dried up and the smell gone. Looks like the reason mine did not drain was due to the fact that my water passageway had been glassed over. This was obviously done at the time of manufacture and not caught. The next cavity aft, which is the first forward cavity under the normal bilge access floorboard does have the passageway leading forward. I probed it with a wire and found it is open most of the way but stops, as suspected, just short of the blockage. Now I must decide to drill and try to open this passageway up. I would think to drill and recoat with an epoxy?

Jeff or Larry, where in the forward cavity does the passageway come through? Center, port, stb? Assume at the aft end? I want to know where I should start to drill.

I am trying to post a picture of the access just to let others know the location of the forward keelbolt. You usually see all the other bolts during routine maintenance & cleaning but maybe it's a good idea to remove the floor board every 10 or so years to check this one out. I'm sure my boat is not the only one with a blocked passageway either.

[LCBrandt]

Sorry, but I don't recall...it's been years since I looked in there. There must be a passage through to accomodate drainage, though.

If you have to drill, before doing so you will want to make sure you're opening up the proper passage location...as you have rightly asked for advice. I believe the grid crossmember is glassed-in wood, so after you open the passage, you will want to ensure that any raw wood areas are properly sealed (gelcoat??) to prevent water from entering the wood. Good luck.

[LCBrandt]

Pat (and others), may I suggest your establishing a forum signature together with your hull number so that any advice can be more effectivly directed? Example below:

[Pat T]

I had it on the old site, just didn't get around to updating this one.

[langweer2]

One of the things I did last winter was put an access port in the floor board so I could take a look in there without having to pull the floor board up. On my boat, there's also a transducer for a depthsounder in the same area.

[mablamb]

As Pat T mentioned, my sole is cut to access that location at any time without removing entire forward sole. Also - the hole cover is now glued to the cut out piece of sole cover and it realy works nicely to gain immediate access to the bildge and more importntly the speed paddle wheel as well as helping the board to stay in place. It is attached with four scres but I just leave them out so it is accessable without any work.

[Rob Kyles]

Good answers above. I see your boat is a lot newer than ours (#105) so you likely don't have major problems like we did :-(
We were unaware of two other bolts just behind the mast, only visible with difficulty through the cupboard in the end of the settee where our battery switch is located. We had to cut away a section of floor to see them, and also the one under the fuel tank forward of the galley sink. All three were badly corroded and had to be replaced.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=6vdxt2v.ggpco6v&x=0&y=-v67xgo&localeid=en_US

[Spanki]

All this trouble with torquing Keel bolts due to length, can't they be cut off short enough for regular socket?:):)

[Rob Kyles]

Yes, I have done - left about 1/2" above the nut and then painted with Interprotect and Interguard 2 pot epoxy.