Drop keel or repair swing?

I would be inclined to keep the boat as near original as possible, they are a well known boat, much loved by many, and any alteration could adversely affect your chances of a reasonable sale price when that comes.

There were a lot of Noelex 22s built, some not as well built as others. I think a workable course of action would be to build a cradle for her that was a good fit to the hull shape, one bearer across ahead of the centercase and one behind, about 300 or so clear of the slot. Jack the whole thing up so you can get underneath to work, drop the centerboard out and then cut the centercase out with an angle grinder and remove it. Cut it about 100mm away from the case to form a flange which you will use to help relocate it when repaired.

Then you can chop it around, replace the steelwork, repair any damage and generally tidy it up. Check that the "board " fits properly before refitting.

Get some polyester resin and glass cloth, taper the edges of the flange and hull joint on the inside with that trusty angle grinder, and jack it into place. Check the alignment with plumb bobs on the transom centerline, the bow centerlines (with the boat deal level acrosswise ) and one down each end of the centercase inside, and when you are satisfied, wedge it into place and glass it in with five or six layers of chopped strand mat with a layer of 10 oz glass over the top to tidy it up.

It might sound like a hard job, but in fact its way easier than trying to do it in place.

John Welsford

Fair

 

John that is really good advice and the only regarding repairing that has not made me squirm. I wish I had it before Easter. A large part of my reluctance to repair was because the geometry of the existing system is off by a couple of degrees, it is 40mm farther to the where the deck meets the hull on port and always saw repairing it as too difficult and little chance of doing a job better than what was done previously.
I had pretty much made up my mind to go with a daggerboard, but now I really need to rethink everything. I would be a fool not to listen to advice from Welsford himself

I am not concerned about resale value this is an overhaul to last for 10 years of my use. I have wanted a N22 since I was a kid, a house and family on the way have ruled out anything else for at least the next decade. I got so much encouragement from N22 people that many of these boats were having similar issues and people were replacing swings with daggerboards and that it was defintely the way to go, but now.... well...

My old keel is goneburgered I could see no way restoring it easily I have to build a new one regardless, is Kauri suitable?

Why Polyester and not epoxy? Is that because of it dissolves the binding in CSM?

I had already resided to the fact that it was going to a daggerboard and have already cut out most of the steel out in small pieces (If only I had heard about that method I would not have been so hasty). So I will still need to jump through some hoops whatever way I go. I do not like the look of replacing all the strength to deal with all that weight in the keel and leverage when the boat heels over. How concerned should I be? Would my intentions for the daggerboard centercase have worked out?

 

Repair

I am assuming that your Noelex 22 is a glass one, and if so it will have been built from glass and polyester resin, so repairs should use the same rather than epoxy.
Be careful and ensure that you have good ventilation when using this stuff.

John Welsford