After getting the keel box excavated I had to figure out how to make this repair permanent. Which material to fill with? How to manage the compression loads? There have been several approaches. Some, like Doug A have made stainless posts sleeved over the keel bolts, some have installed posts adjacent to the keel bolts, and perhaps most elegant is Bristol Marine's approach where they do not excavate the keel stub anymoe, but have developed a tool which bores a hole into the keel stub co-axial with the keel bolt, and extracts the filler. they then install a built up fibreglass post over the keel bolt in that hole. By the way, Nick at Bristol was also very helpful in this. It was clear this would be a DIY job, and he offered a great deal of encouragement and advice. (and offered me a job...lol) Thanks Nick!
So, I made a couple of very sturdy compression posts, laid up over 1.25" ABS pipe.
Work in process.
Posts were cut at the correct angle and had sheet fibreglass feet attached with massive poxy fillets, and these were then set into epoxy on the bottom of the keel box. More glass filled epoxy was used to secure the posts in place. Killer stuff.
Ready for filling....
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