Alternative to Keelshield?

[Sailor77.7]

I have been looking at keelshield for the keel of my 20' tri-hull boat. I bought it a couple of weeks ago and want to fix it up to make it look great again. The people who owned it before me, beached it quite a bit by the looks, (I'll post pics tomorrow 17Aug) or they could have hit the trailer a lot. I'm not sure. How else can the keel be repaired? I figure that the gel coat needs to be redone after the fiberglass is replaced. I am not sure how to do these things. Admirals, Captains and all others...shake a leg...lend me some knowledge please.

Vr,
Michael

Added photo's 17Aug @ 20:55

 

[sdunt]

Re: Alternative to Keelshield?

You can rebuild just about any part of a fiberglass boat. The recommendations to use a keel guard are coming because to repair the keel of the boat, you either need to strip the hull and flip it over, the preferred method.

Or, you get to lay on your back under the trailer while epoxy drips off of the repair onto you and sets up in your nose, your eyes and your hair, etc.

Your choice..

P.s. to learn more about fiberglass repairs read:

The Fiberglass Boat Repair Manual by Allan H. Viatses
http://www.amazon.com/Fiberglass-Bo...0255336?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176991609&sr=1-2

Fiberglass Repair and Construction Handbook Author: Jack Wiley
http://www.amazon.com/Fiberglass-Re...9355330?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180026258&sr=1-1

Video on Fiberglassing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6BIr0Kq0Bs

Boat Repair and Restoration Articles @ West System
http://www.westsystem.com/ewmag/proj_repair.html

West Systems User manual
http://www.westsystem.com/frames/tier1/usingepoxy.htm

"The Epoxy Book" Systems 3 Epoxy
http://www.mertons.com/Epoxy/documents/epoxy_book.pdf .

 

[watermellonI]

Re: Alternative to Keelshield?

I personally would go with the keel shield, then you can beach if you like and as long as you seal it properly to the hull you wont have to worry about it anymore.

 

[Sailor77.7]

Re: Alternative to Keelshield?

sdunt & watermellonI,

Thanks for the information and help. I have posted new pics of some of the problems with the boat. I know that the whole floor now needs to be replaced. There are mulitiple soft spots, cracks and breaks in it. This is turning out to be a larger project than I thought it would be. Anymore insights and advice will be appreciated. Thanks in advance!