Keel

The keel is made of some horrible cast iron. It is attached to the hull by stainless steel bolts, and unlike the GK29 and other larger Westerlys the stiffening of the hull near the keel is adequate and cracking is not a problem.
When Forethoughts keel was shot blasted, it looked like it had been used for artillery target practice , but epoxy filler cures this.

Hull to keel joint : somebody tried to glass over the joint on the boat with the engine mounting cracking. Surveyor was worried about what it hid.

Expect though to see a 3-5cm horizontal crack at fore and aft end of keel - this is just caused by the hull flexing slightly fore and aft of the keel bolt fixing points, this happens during lift out and storage on its keel.

I was advised not to let the boat dry out on its keel, although it has not suffered yet from scrub-offs on the Hamble piles.

mike@hamble.demon.co.uk