keel question

[Berwick]

Hi, I am building a David Gerr nesting dinghy and have just about come to the point of putting the oak keel and runners on. After I attack the oak keel should I enclose it with epoxy and fibreglass or just paint. I would also like to put a piece of starboard on the bottom of the keel to act as a sacrificial part. If I enclosed it I guess I could skip this part?

Thanks, Richard

[Sailor]

Don't forget the port as well

[Thorne]

Not familiar with the design, but I'd be tempted to leave the oak keel and runners just painted. They can be replaced later when worn/torn.

[wizbang 13]

I think the oak IS the sacrificial part.

[Vinny&Shawn]

Put bronze 1/2 oval as protection the wood will last many years!

[Berwick]

So the oak will last a long time before rotting if I don't glass it?


Richard

[seo]

It sort of depends on how the boat will be used. Long skid up a beach of sharp pebbles and ledge? Maybe stainless steel. To be stowed upside down on deck of a yacht? Just the wood, or maybe a high density plastic. Going to live alongside a float, no go ashore much? Doesn't really matter.

[JimConlin]

So the oak will last a long time before rotting if I don't glass it?

Richard

Don't glass it. View the oak as sacrificial.
If you put on enough glass to really protect the oak, it will be hell to remove it when it's gotten battered.

[James McMullen]

Don't glass it.
It would be an expensive, heavy and difficult way to do something that didn't need doing in the first place. You really don't need the Starboard either. Oak is plenty tough to do all the things you want it for without needing any of that stuff. In 8-10 years from now, put on a new piece of oak. . . .if it needs it by then.

[Berwick]

Great thank you, no fibreglass it is!

Richard