Coup de Keel
20 January 2007 | Power Boats yard in Trinidad
Bryan
THE SAGA OF MAKING URSA MINOR HEAVIER
Those who have followed our blog this far will remember our mentioning work on the keel in an earlier entry. Before leaving Trinidad in November, we had a 1,200 lb. shoe cast out of lead and epoxied to the bottom of the keel to secure
it until we returned in January. Well, we're back and work has begun afresh.
The inspiration for the keel came from Keith Reynolds, s/v Camelot, another Saga owner from Florida. Keith provided the technical details that facilitated the casting here as well as the installation. Upon our return the first critical step was to through-bolt the shoe to the keel. This very difficult task was managed by Ian Chai Hong a very skilled local machinist. The difficulty arose from the nature of the material. Lead is a very soft metal and tends to heat and adhere to the drill bits as the holes are bored. Since he had to drill 8 18mm holes for 10" bolts, there was a lot of heatin' and adherin'. Ian is pictured with his massive drill and jousting-sized bits in this article.
After bolting the shoe to the keel, the final protective measure was undertaken by Clinton 'AK" Brewster, our long-time friend and working partner here at Power Boats. AK wrapped the keel to the shoe using heavy biaxial fiberglass matting to ensure that the shoe and keel are an integral unit. After wrapping, AK filled the bolt surfaces with micro balloons, and faired out the surface to make it hydrodynamic. He is pictured dripping with epoxy resin below.
As you can tell from the pictures the boat had to be suspended in the air while this work was done. It's been a labor-intensive endeavor, but one that will pay big dividends in stability and performance.
Click on the last album in the gallery to see more pictures from the keel addition project.