Water in the keel

[SeaEric]

This has been discussed before, several times. I'm convinced that the (hollow) foam filled keel on my boat has water in it. I'm going to haul the boat and leave her on the hard for about 10 days while I'm out of town. I figured this would be a good time to drill some holes and let it drain. The plan - is to drill one or two holes somewhere in the aft end of the keel on the outside and one hole in the forward end of the keel void from inside the boat. My thinking is that this may provide an air path through the foam for possible (enhanced) drainage. I then plan to close these holes up by installing drain plug hardware with threaded plugs that can be removed again from time to time as may be needed. I plan to look through the inside bilge and attempt to close up any screw holes that are allowing the water in.

I recall that some of you have done this. Did it work? Where exactly did you drill the hole(s)? Any wisdom or experience on this is welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

[magnawake]

I havent drilled any holes in the keel yet, but I'm hauling out in June for the summer and thought I would drill some holes too. I know I have water in the keel because I cut a small hole in my shower sump floor. I can see big blobs of closed cell foam with water standing around. Its hard to drain it because the water is trapped by the foam blobs (actually looks like mountains). If you drill a hole, you might get some water out, but prolly not near what is in the entire keel. It might need months to totally drain. I wish we had an authority from the Hatteras factory that knew all about this keel problem. I also heard about this guy that hauls his sport fish out every year and lets it drain a week or so then he fills the hole with epoxy and paints over the hole. I really think the water is coming from rain and you never even see it. Keep us updated. Hopefully it all drains out.

 

[mdshore]

let water drain ?...only for it to come back the first time your bilge gets wet again... i wouldnt bother unless you are going to fix the problem . haul out next fall and cut the entire side of the keel out and re-core it..

 

[Canuck Dennis]

Why bother re coring...

 

[Vincentc]

haul out next fall and cut the entire side of the keel out and re-core it..

Before doing this, perform a test,
jack up your car, crawl underneath, then kick hard against the jack.

 

[jim rosenthal]

I did this and the keel stayed dry afterwards. PM me for details. I don't know if you need the holes up above, but you DO need at least two holes; I used a wet dry vac to pull air through the hollow box keel in order to dry it out in there. I left it run for about a week or two. Probably drove everyone nuts in the boatyard, but it worked well. I did not install drain plugs, but have checked it by drilling since then, and it has stayed dry.

A phone call to Slane Marine or Sam's about how they are constructed would be worth your while as well.

 

[bostonhatteras]

Don't bother. wait until fall haul out and drill your hole then. let it drain all winter. Find how water is entering the keel and fix that. unless the boat has been grounded hard and damaged the keel, what you plan on doing with cutting the keel apart is asking for trouble. lots of work and questionable payback/results. heres a thought...if you need to get back in the water and you still have a slight weep from the hole, well guess what...epoxy wont stick to wet surfaces and will undermine the repair. think about it before you do anything rash

 

[magnawake]

I havent drilled any holes in the keel yet, but I'm hauling out in June for the summer and thought I would drill some holes too. I know I have water in the keel because I cut a small hole in my shower sump floor. I can see big blobs of closed cell foam with water standing around. Its hard to drain it because the water is trapped by the foam blobs (actually looks like mountains). If you drill a hole, you might get some water out, but prolly not near what is in the entire keel. It might need months to totally drain. I wish we had an authority from the Hatteras factory that knew all about this keel problem. I also heard about this guy that hauls his sport fish out every year and lets it drain a week or so then he fills the hole with epoxy and paints over the hole. I really think the water is coming from rain and you never even see it. Keep us updated. Hopefully it all drains out.

First time replying to my own post. I forgot to say that I had a water leak on my radar arch which I didnt know about. That shower sump hole that I cut out, well I installed a Plastic tote that I cut in half to catch the shower water placed over the hole. I did this so I could monitor the water level in the keel just by looking. I went ahead and fixed the water leaks on the arch and now keep an eye on the keel water. So far no more water level increasing in the keel space. Thats why I said I thought it was rain water. Before I fixed the leak I wet vacced in out several times and it just came back.

 

[sgharford]

Not trying to sidetrack you thread as to where to drill holes in keel, but..... I took the Magnawake approach he mentioned in past thread about a month ago on my 43DC - drilled a hole from inside in bilge section under rear shower sump (where another bilge pump is installed) - sharpened the end of an old piece of 1/2" electrical conduit (about 4' long) with a disc grinder and pushed it thru the foam until it hit bottom of keel. Then removed the foam from conduit, reinserted, and put wet/dry vac on it. No water came up and this is about the lowest section of keel, at least on my model. I thought for sure I had water down there due reoccurring stench I just can't seem to find in rear stateroom. I took this route as a litmus test - safer to fill hole from inside rather than outside, and you could do it while still in the water. I love those tubes of West System Six10 - just globbed into hole when done. In retrospect, I should have shot expanding foam down there prior to capping as I just made clear path for water to travel to bottom of keel. Start to finish, once I had drill bit, conduit, disc grinder, wet/dry vac, West Sytems six10 on boat, took about 1 hour.

 

[captpl]

Just did this on a 1980 50c. Removed entire 3/4" glassed in floor.... it's only tabbed on the sides to the stringers. Removed ALL foam, PIA factor 11 (pain in the @$$ factor). You would be amazed at all the voids that collect water in this stuff along with little channels throughout. Water gets trapped everywhere and I personally believe you would not remove all the water if you drilled 100 holes in the keel... Installed new 3/4" marine ply and re-glassed it in. Left 2 inspection ports and partitioned the keel so I could install a bilge/sump pump forward in the engine room, as that is where water collects, the other port is aft in the engine room by the end of the keel, to remove any water that will still get in there. Hatches in cockpit etc let water in and it makes its way to the keel. So far so good maybe 12-16oz of water gets mopped put every now and again, also that "classic" Hatteras smell has vanished....

 

[magnawake]

Just did this on a 1980 50c. Removed entire 3/4" glassed in floor.... it's only tabbed on the sides to the stringers. Removed ALL foam, PIA factor 11 (pain in the @$$ factor). You would be amazed at all the voids that collect water in this stuff along with little channels throughout. Water gets trapped everywhere and I personally believe you would not remove all the water if you drilled 100 holes in the keel... Installed new 3/4" marine ply and re-glassed it in. Left 2 inspection ports and partitioned the keel so I could install a bilge/sump pump forward in the engine room, as that is where water collects, the other port is aft in the engine room by the end of the keel, to remove any water that will still get in there. Hatches in cockpit etc let water in and it makes its way to the keel. So far so good maybe 12-16oz of water gets mopped put every now and again, also that "classic" Hatteras smell has vanished....

I was afraid of that happening with the trapped water. That was my assumption from just what I saw under my aft shower sump. I kinda figured it would take bunches of holes drilled and thats not 100%. To gain access to my keel and remove the foam, I would need to remove the water tank, plus I have a keel tank sitting on top as well. I keep checking my access hole I cut and no more water (that I can see) is present. I know that was a hard job for you. My hats off to you.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Well, so far, so good on mine. What did you find, Eric?

 

[SeaEric]

I have not hauled her yet. Stay tuned.