I have had discussions with my engineer friends and we are of a mind that all that fairing compound actually served a valuable purpose in that it provided a crush zone to absorb and dissipate a lot of the energy that was directed at the keel. I will be building that area back up with what might be a bit stronger material that has some fibers in it.
The other part of this is that in my part of the Columbia River we have sandbars, wing dams and various kinds of junk in the river that would be relatively soft to hit. Whereas I think the Hood River section has hidden rock outcroppings that were likely responsible for the nasty hit this keel took.
