J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Putting Rhapsody's Keel on a diet

I decided to bite the bullet and template the keel this spring. I didn't realize just how fat the keel was. Below are two photos of work in process. I bought the Computer Keels class keel templates printed on Mylar and constructed the actual templates using mattte board and 1 x 2 lumber.

I borrowed Mark Rotsky's Bosch power planer, but unfortunately broke a belt about an hour after the only place in town that stocks the belts closed for the weekend. So, I now own a cheapo Makita power planer from Home Depot, and still owe Mark a new belt for his.

This is a 4 Ibuprofin job. My back is killing me and I'm only done planing the top 4 stations. The keel was very fat. I have carried away 5 bucketfulls of lead shavings.

I started by using a straight edge and grinding the trailing keel edge straight. The upper part by the keel joint had "grown" over the years where fairing cracks were routinely patched. The bottom edge on the other hand requires buiding up. The templates would not fit over the trailing edge until I planed both sides of the keel. Once the templates were fit over the keel, I found the leading edge required building up 1/4" to 1/2". I plan on attaching a fiberglass batten and will fill around it with fairing compound. The leading edge intersection with the bottom of the keel needs to be built up as there is a large gap (~1.5") missing that has probably been ground off over the years.

Below are photos of work in process. The templates for sections 1 through 4 now fit and the chord lines all intersect with the straight edge. I may shave off just a slight bit more so the finished profile fits the templates with the fairing compound.

Sounds like you are going to need a heavier crew ...
I will bring my templates up north to compare in April.

How many pounds on the rail to make up for 10 lbs shaved off the bottom of the keel?

Sounds like I picked the right weekend to go home for spring break!!!

Kidding Bill, you'll show Jeff and those Epiphany guys when summer rolls around. I'm back Sunday evening so feel free to requisition me for work whenever you please.

Ok - our weather hasn't cooperated this spring between the snow and cold weather. Today temps hit 50 degrees after being in the 30s last nite. Lead doesn't warm quickly. On Sunday afternoon with the temp a balmy 52 degrees I finally was able to start building up the stations with thickened epoxy. The day I planed the keel it was 60 degrees so I was able to cover the lead with neat epoxy to seal it.

The area is covered with wax paper and the line drawn on the paper so the template can be positioned in the correct spot when the line on the keel are covered with epoxy. The wax paper allows a squeegee and roller to be used to move the thickened epoxy around. This makes it easy to match the contour to the templates.



Below you can see the 1st and 4th template stations faired. You can also see where I epoxied a batten on the front edge of the keel to extend it forward, since the keel was short fore-aft dimension.


Here is a view of the stbd side with the top 4 stations built up. Once the thickened epoxy cures, the wax paper will be peeled off and the contour checked with the templates. Minor sanding and filling if needed will be done to make the fit perfect. The chord positions will be marked and a straight edge used to make sure the chord lines line up flat across the various stations. Once they are verified as straight, thickened epoxy will be spread between the stations using wax paper and a roller / straight edge across the high spots built up. I'll do the keel bottom (station 5) after the rest of the keel is done. I need to raise the boat off the keel and don't want to leave it that way for an extended time.



I'd like to finish this next weekend weather permitting because I'm headed to Antiugua the week after that with some friends to charter a boat. I'd like to be able to have the boat ready to launch by the end of April.

Very clever doing only the measurement stations to start. Once they're spot on, I suppose you fill in between and fair with a straight edge?

Yes - that's the plan. This should make the final long-board sanding a minor effort.

Did you find that the bottom template station was below the bottom of the keel?

The front point of that station is for sure. I'm sure over time the leading edge corner has been rounded off as that's where the boat hits when grounded..... I built up the front by extending the line with the batten by about 1.25" and filling the void with thickened epoxy. The aft end of the keel looks ok. Since the keel makes a pretty good dent in the block it is sitting on, it is difficult to tell how the bottom edge is until I lift the boat off the keel block.

That is the way I did a j24 keel from scratch. The technique works well, and it actually measured in!

I did this to Evelyn a few years ago, but i have always wondered what the bottom of the keel should look like. Is it flat or is it a "v" like the j-24's. I found that my keel was aft by about 3/4" and the chord length was short by about the same. it is not a fun job, but to be competitive it has to be done.