Does keel damage lead to water intrusion--please view photo

[deerhuntre]

This Sea Hunt has some damage to the hull along the front keel and would this type of damage be enough to allow water into the hull? What are the concerns and areas to check? Is a repair feasible and what would the best repair approach be?

Please look at the photo's at this URL:

http://thedubins.com/showntell/c.JPG

http://thedubins.com/showntell/b.JPG


Thank you!!

PS--
I'm trying to upload photo's and its not working and I tried to add a link to a photo, and that won't work either. Now I cannot remove the link, so I just put the Iboats URL there. Sorry for that.

 

[fhhuber]

Looks like mostly just gel coat scraped off... which SHOULDN'T cause a leak.
Mostly it looks like scraping from beaching on the boat ramp.

But if it hit hard it could have fractured the hull.

Keel:
Sand and feather it smooth.
maybe a strip of fiberglass cloth down the center of the damaged keel, then sand again
put on a keel guard.

(I have the pretty much same damage on my bass boat, temporary built back up with one of those epoxy putty sticks )

The small side chips... sand and feather out then fill with a gel coat repair kit.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Looks more like something was hit than abrasions from beaching...

 

[Grub54891]

Looks like it hit some rocks. The best way would be to have it professionally looked at, and repaired. The area has to be checked for cracks in the glass, and ground out and repaired properly. Open glass does absorb water over time. re-gel coating without making sure there are no cracks in the glass just leads to more cracks, and water intrusion. A keel guard would just cover the damage and not guarantee it would stay dry. if your handy with glassing and gel coat, go for it! read the stickys at the top of forums, and do it up right. I hate it when stuff like that happens....

 

[Woodonglass]

If you can probe all of the damaged areas with an awl and they are totally firm and NOT spongy, then I'd agree that it's just Gelcoat damage and it can be repaired by grinding and re-glassing. I'd use a layer of 1.5oz CSM followed by 2 Layers of 1708 and a final layer of CSM. You can then roll on 3-4 coats of gelcoat and then sand and polish. Hardest part of the entire project will be color matching the gelcoat.