replacing keel

[Guest]

I have a 15 to 16 ft. wooden Lakefield boat. I was told that it probably needs the keel replaced because of the fiberglass coating it was given at the bow of the boat. How involved is the procedure to replace a keel?

[Captn_Pea]

I'm into the first rebuild of the stem of my boat 24' CC Sea Skiff, and done some research, so I'm no expert but, this is my take on such a task.

Your into the heart of the structure, so you have to be careful. Make sure everything is well supported and true before you remove this heart of the vessal.

As your only 16' I would think that you can get the boat upside down, if I had that option I would. Support it all over the place, use temp lumber if need be. Remove the as much of the planking as needed to get at the keel. You may find other problems with rot, I would almost expect it.

Then it should be as easy as carefully remove the keel, don't break it into little bits, and replace what you took out with good lumber. I would dry fit, then coat with CPES and reinstall. Sounds easy, but, it will take time and patcience. With the stuff I'm building I teaching myself the skills to do it on practice pieces often, then going into the good lumber. Also, I have friends that have restored boats, and ask them when I run into woodworking tricks and tips to do. If you get stuck, sleep on it, ask questions, destroy some cheep wood before you cut the piece to go in.

see:
http://www.mbbw.com/ look in there Work in Progress area, you'll see a couple pictures of boats getting new structure installed.

Wooden Boat has a publication on stem and keel repair.
http://www.woodenboat.com/

Rot Doctor, sells the CPES, it seems to get pretty good reviews.
http://www.rotdoctor.com/

Above all else, do this right, replace the rotton wood, do not go for a quick repair, like glassing over, but, you proably find that out as that is what you are replaceing.

Captn Pea