Listen to Wheatley! Particularly about the parts of using epoxy resin rather than polyester, and inspecting carefully for any way water could get in to the punchings. Best way to thicken the epoxy is to use cotton flocking, available thru Aircraft Spruce, I think in Long Beach, CA. Gougeon's strongest thickener would also be fine. They both have websites and will mail it to you. The trick is to clean up the damage with sandpaper, then use just enough thickened resin to float over the rough part, and quickly, before the filler starts to harden, finish the job by using glass cloth. Put on a slight excess, then sand it smooth. It would be good to make a pattern before you get started so that you can re-drill the hole in the proper place. Do it on a cool day in the shade! -----Original Message----- From: swwheatley@comcast.net Sent: Monday, July 11, 2016 8:43 AM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: Re: M_Boats: M17 busted keel Some damage from dropped centerboards is common, though yours sounds worse than most. The repair will depend on the extent of the damage, which is hard to judge without a photo. Relatively minor damage can be repaired with nothing more than thickened epoxy resin. For damage that is a little worse, you should mix in some chopped up fiberglass cloth. For more serious damage, you will want to build the damaged area back up using layers of fiberglass cloth wet out with epoxy resin. Pay particular attention to the condition of the seam where the centerboard trunk is bonded to the keel. If that seam opens up, water might migrate into the steel punchings that were used for ballast, which can cause a number of other problems. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Gary Froeschner" <gfroesch@socket.net> To: "For and about Montgomery Sailboats" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Monday, July 11, 2016 12:45:09 AM Subject: M_Boats: M17 busted keel I bought a 1976 M17 about 3 years ago with a broken keel. The center board retainer pin broke out the bottom of the keel like the center board was dropped hard against it. The pin is missing. It broke through both sides of the keel. I am finally getting ready to do this repair and looking for some guidance. Has anyone done this repair? Is this a common mishap?