More keel sump questions...

Posted By: amory
Date: 3/16/08 12:52p.m.

Report: outside forum guidelines

In Response To: Filling voids (Ryan Haley)

When I removed the wood from the bottom of the bilge, I had to first remove a layer of fiberglass which was covering it. I cut this back to the edge of the keel sump, being a little conservative about how much I removed to prevent structural damage. Now all the wood is out, the bolts are cleaned and rethreaded, and I am ready to reglass the keel. But, there is some fiberglass which is slightly overhanging the edges of the keel sump, where the wood used to be. I think this is just the same layer that was covering the wood, which was layed up over the side of the keel sump, but I am not sure. It looks like about 4 layers of roving and resin. I have been chiseling away at it carefully but I am still afraid I may do some severe damage because I don't totally understand the structure of the boat. Below is a picture to help explain. I put a circle around the fiberglass in question, to the left of the keel bolts. Should I chisel this layer back until the edge is flush with the keel sump below? If I leave it as is I think it will be hard to overlap new layers of glass over it. Also, the catalina instructions say to lay down 3 alternating layers of mat and roving, and have them lay up on the side of the keel sump about 6 inches. I am using 1708 biaxial cloth, but if I lay 6 layers up on the side of the keel sump, the thickness of those layers may not leave enough room on the sides of the keel bolts for the washers and nuts. I was thinking of cutting the cloth layers so that next to the bolts the layers will not go up the sides, but elsewhere it will. If you can understand what I just said,you must be an expert.