110 Cookson Lane | Whitefield, ME 04353 | 207-232-7600 | tim@lackeysailing.com
After considering things overnight, I decided that the best approach for the keel ballast seam was to fill the entire V-shaped groove I'd milled earlier with more of the flexible, tough 5200 adhesive sealant. I'd considered using epoxy and fiberglass to tab over the joint, but this was essentially what had been done before--and had failed. While fiberglassed keel joints look and seem sound at the beginning, the dynamic forces at work frequently lead to cracking and ultimate failure of the new material. I thought that additional flexible--yet adhesive--material for this particular joint would be the best solution. At its best, this particular seam had never been tight, smooth, and fair.
Interestingly, I noted a virtually identical-looking seam on out-of-water pictures of other Rhodes Swiftsures available on the Internet.
To this end, I applied additional 5200 into the seam, using a squeegee to smooth it out flush and spreading a bit of the material onto adjacent surfaces in the process.
Afterwards, I sanded, cleaned, and varnished again the interior cabin trunk trim in the main cabin and head.
Total time billed on this job today: 2.25 hours
