16 foot hartley, keel rot

[tonyb_nz]

Hi All,

I have a 16'5" hartley motor boat which I have been restoring over the past 12 months. The boat has been in the family for many years, and my father has passed it care onto me. The hull is constructed of ply with a fibreglass coating.

On close inspection yesterday I found that a section of the keel has some rot, about 2 feet from the bow. The keel is a single piece of timber from where the bow begins to curve, all the way to the transom.

Couple of questions - I assume that replacing this is going to be a major undertaking, and that if replaced the entire keel will need to be removed and replaced?

Do I have any options other than replacing the keel?

I am a fairly experienced carpenter, however I am new to boat building, so I'm looking from advice from those with some experience with this kind of thing!

[tonyb_nz]

Scratch that!

After some investigation with a hammer and pry bar, I've found that what appeared to run the entire length of the hull is in fact 2 foot lengths that come out relatively easily.

The timber underneath appears to be in good shape!

Happy day!

[riggertroy]

Sounds good, I've just been doing abit of work on a 22foot hull, keep finding where worm has started, luckly the worm gets about 3mm in and that's as far as it has gone in most places. Dig out the damaged wood and let a new piece in. Lots more to do...

[Aberdeen]

Tony B
If in true Hartley design fashion the keel would only be fitted to the outside of the ply 'skin'
I think you may have now found that out? In which case if the ply is okay the job should be relatively simple and sweet. Of course this might depend on how the builder fitted the keel

Which model Hartley is your little lady?

I've just finished my first one, a Husky at 3.3m and about to begin on the Flareline 15 in a month or two.

Glenn in Adelaide, South Australia