Water has more then likely entered your metal ballast, but since it sounds like you have a hole in the bottom of the keel excess water should have been able to drain. Hoopers will probably drill a few holes in the side of the keel and put some heat lamps and fans on it for awhile to dry everything out. Thats what they did with mine and is why I didn't have my boat from the last week in June through the end of August. I made the decision to just leave the iron ballast in place at this time since it had already started to rust and I could see if there was to be any expansion it had plenty of room to expand. I also figured that it wouldn't continue to rust since hoopers was able to dry everything out and then make my keel waterproof again. This is what they had recommended. They seemed happy leaving the ballast in place and willing to guide me towards solutions that saved me money which I always appreciate a good yard to do. --Chad On Sep 30, 2008, at 2:09 PM, Andrei Caldararu wrote:
Two more questions:
a) How can I determine if water has entered the steel ballast area? If it has, what is the best way to remove it?
b) If the damage is not only to the outer skin, but also to the centerboard trunk, around the stop pin, will fixing only the outer hull layer of the keel not compromise the water tightness of the steel ballast area? Or is the entire ballast area higher than the stop pin?
Andrei.
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