venture 21 keel repair (salvaging the unsalvagable)

[stone_love]

the swing keel has put more venture/mac sailboats in the scrap yard than any other issue.

I'm not a huge fan of the leat/iron shot or whatever material they poured in over the steel core.

mine was swollen at the swing bolt like every other venture/mac and required 2 days of work to safely remove.

and the very bottom tip of the keel where it has it's foot shape was cracked/expanded.

I removed every ounce of that lead shot on the bottom half to get down to the steel center where i cleaned it with a wire brush on a side grinder and coated it with some rustolem until i can figure out where to go from here.

Scrapping her out is not an option. I've kept all the weight i removed and plan on getting it on a scale tonight, i'm guessing the bottom foot is a good 75-95 lbs, but i want to reproduce my repair parts to be within a few lbs.

I'm planning on making a new foot for her out of solid pieces of steel and weld them to the steed core then fiber glassing over them to try to reproduce the same shape as close as possible. Has anyone else tried this method and how important is the shape at the bottom 18" of the keel? any improvements to the shape that anone can suggest?

[Freedom77]

Sounds life you have your work cut out. Had the same issue with V-22. Only advise I could offer would be to put as much of the weight at the bottom. Fair Winds and Full Sails....

[stone_love]

that was my thoughts...strip entire keel down to only steel board then put a huge submarine shaped weight at the bottom of it where approximately 75-90% of the weight is at the very foot of the keel.

[RobertB]

that was my thoughts...strip entire keel down to only steel board then put a huge submarine shaped weight at the bottom of it where approximately 75-90% of the weight is at the very foot of the keel.

Is it a good idea to use the term "submarine" when refering to our boats?

[stone_love]

that was my thoughts...strip entire keel down to only steel board then put a huge submarine shaped weight at the bottom of it where approximately 75-90% of the weight is at the very foot of the keel.

Is it a good idea to use the term "submarine" when refering to our boats?

almost as bad as asking a non mac sailing site if a mac is blue water capable!

[stone_love]

it's either find a sutible repair for my keel or find one from a venture 21 or mac 21 that does not have the swelling in the bulb of the keel...which seems to be the issue with 99% of these boats being scraped out.

[Freedom77]

You would have your work cut out for you but if you could find one of the newer cast iron keels somewhere it would solve a lot of problems. Contact Blue Water Yachts in Seattle or maybe MacGregor in Costa Mesa Cal. They might have some ideas or resources. A sailboat is a big hole in the water into which you pour endless amounts of cash. Fair winds and Full Sails....Old Salt.

[stone_love]

ive got the steel core out of the casing, ground her clean, blasted her with glass beads.

Going by my dads plant next week to pick up some 1/2" and 3/4" thick sheets of steel as well as some 6" and 9" 1 foot sections of solid steel rod

I'm thinking possibly a fin on the end of the keel using the two smaller rods if i can't get the weight close enough with a single rod (using the rod as a bulb)

[lola]

my keel comes home with a large amount of seaweed. can I remove the the keel and smooth it off a bit with grinder, paint it and replace it

[stone_love]

my keel comes home with a large amount of seaweed. can I remove the the keel and smooth it off a bit with grinder, paint it and replace it

how bad of seaweed are you talking about?

I would hope it's not bad enough to justify removing a 400lbs keel.

If the keel is in good shape (no cracks) i would just scrape off all the seaweed/alge and wash good with soap/water maybe wet sand then coat with good albertative(spelling?) bottom coat

unless you are doing a bottom coat or servicing keel bolt i wouldn't want to remove the keel.

I've removed and in the process of making a new one from scratch but only because i have to, not because i want to. Rust did mine in.

[Fairwind]

Hello ! Our V-21 (1977) has a cast iron keel.....I don't know if it ever was clad in fiberglass or not, or if some former owner replaced the keel with one different from the factory..Originally, it sort of "flopped around" in the center-board trunk, the fit very loose. I dropped it out (by jacking the boat up off the trailer far enough to remove the keel. I then shimmed it with polypropylene sheets (shims) until it fit snugly and put everything back together. I installed a new lift cable and winch (common boat trailer hand winch) and it's been fine ever since...I NEVER put the locking bolt in, in rough conditions I just crank the keel up maybe 20% of the way so the cable has tension on it and the keel can't swing. The boat is stored on its trailer and is used on Cape Cod Bay and Narragansett Sound during the summer months...