Keelson repair

David · Post by **David** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:24 pm

On a 1960s Sea Coaster, I have the garboard planks off and am starting to repair the ribs, which have rotted at the keel ends.

I have found some rot on part of the keelson. The center board in the keelson is sound. The bottom edges of the outer keelson boards (that sandwich the center keelson board and to which the ribs are fastened) are black and rotten for about 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep for much of their length. The rest of the wood on those boards is solid. The question is how to repair these boards.

My thought is to scrape/chisel the rot off the keelson and apply CPES to it. But I'm worried that the bottom surface of the outer keelson boards will now be higher than before, and that the ribs will therefore be too high to be flush with the garboard planks. Should I shim the ribs down with oak, or build up an epoxy buffer, or try some other method?

Thanks for all input.

David.

a j r · Post by **a j r** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 4:46 am

Welcome aboard!

Why not just remove those side boards and replace them with good, sound new wood? It will probably be no more work than all the scraping, filling, fairing, etc... you mention. And it will also be a proper repair.

Andreas

David · Post by **David** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 9:51 am

I'm concerned that I'll never get the keel back in the boat if I take it out.

a j r · Post by **a j r** » Sat Aug 18, 2007 1:18 pm

Just unscrew the two outside pieces from the middle one. If the garboard planking is off, you can unscrew the screw from rib to keelson.

Andreas