I'm just starting a structural rebuild project and the boat has iron floor bolts. I'm new to this and would appreciate any help with a few questions.(1) Do I need to remove any of the wood in the keel that the iron has penatrated or just the bolts?(2) I've removed the keel bolts and none of them went through any floors when I replace the lead should I drill any floor bolts through it?
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This will be an interesting thread. Ice picks are a great diagonistic tool. Take the point of a good ice pick and test any suspected wood with it, then test some wood that you know is sound. It ain't rocket science. If it feels like cheese it will be about that strong. are you really planning to replace the lead?
If it feels like cheese... When Iron get's into the wood it's a distinctly different kind of stuctural deterioration than a wet rot or dry rot sickness. The picture here is of a stearn post affected by Iron electrolisis. Hitting the bolts with an air hammer produced a lot of powdery decomposion of the wood. It's hard enough, but a lot of the wood fibers have simply disintegrated to powder and left. Since it still has it's shape, I'm wondering if it can be rahabed with plastic, but I'm not optimistic. The bottom of this post sits in the water and is in fair shape. Stearn post at the Iron rotted top
[ 01-01-2006, 09:21 PM: Message edited by: Dan Hobson ]
No I'm not replacing the lead . I should have said when I reattatch the lead should I use the old keel bolt holes only or should I drill some of the floor bolts through the lead also. The boat was originally built in 1945 and seams to have done fine with the lead bolted just to the keel. I was thinking that putting more bolts in might be a little over board so I was looking for a second opinion.
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