Lasata was purchased nearly 14 years ago, and has been a great boat for me. I've done numerous upgrades and have tried my best at keeping her in the best shape possible. The new Genoa 150 and new standing rigging last year are the simplest examples of what seems to be a regular upgrade routine. After all she is a thirty year old boat, and things are bound to need attention (even on newer boats).
Lasata presented us with a pesky leak shortly after leaving from the SSCA Gam in Maryland this year. I was unsure of where exactly this leak was, however by the time we were two days into an offshore run south of Beaufort, NC I knew we had to address the situation. Thoughts of an episode where the anchor came loose and banged it's way down the boat, and possible leaking exhaust hoses came to mind. However it would need to wait until we were in Fort Lauderdale before any more attention would be given. After all the bilge pump was easily keeping up... mostly.
Best of Intentions, maintenance wise...
After making our way to Loggerhead Marina in Hollywood, we were settled in and began taking stock of what would be needed for the trip to the Bahamas. First on the list; the leak! Followed by other items like "re-Power" , "rebuild" or "nothing", and provisioning ofcourse. So, we promptly set off on pulling the boat into a DIY Yard "Playboy Marine". This is a yard I will not be using anytime in the future; a topic for another time.
Pulling the boat it became instantly obvious the issue was the rear portion of the keel, as it hung 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the hull. This is not good, and is very likely the cause of the leak. Once on jack stands, I went to work to check the torque on the aft set of bolts. As disappointed as I was to find the bolt rotted away below the hull, I was happy that it appeared to be the only bolt affected. Mind you, every one of the fourteen bolts were replaced by a yard in Maryland five years ago. Just goes to show, you need to keep an eye on everything.
I went off to get some expert advice, and very quickly found plenty to go around. Everyone seems to have extravagant ideas on how to fix something as simple as a rotted bolt. The most outrageous idea was to use a plasma torch and cut a section from the aft edge of the keel and run bolts through the cut off section. Beneteau insisted the only way to do it was to drop the keel. The ideas were totally out of the question for me. One was too extreme and the other too time consuming, we needed to get to the Bahamas.
Temporary repair and repaint the bottom.
Sometimes a quick and easy fix is just what is needed to get the job done, while allowing one the time to evaluate possible long-term solutions. Thankfully I was able to get the broken bolt out of the keel without removing it, saving lots of time and heartache. Much to the surprise of the local boatyard contractors, all it took was a steady hand, patience, and a little know how.
The first thing was to clean the jagged remains of the bolt. Using a Dremel and a small cylindrical grinding head, I smoothed the top of the bolt flat. This left a small ring where the outline of the bolt was visible against the outline of the threads cut into the keel. Next I simply drilled a hole, starting from the smallest diameter working my way to a hole large enough to set an "EZ-Out" screw extractor. Lucky for me, the yard I paid to do this job did use a generous amount of Anti-Seize compound and the bolt came out without incident.
The fix lasted
With a new bolt and flexible epoxy patch along the exterior of the keel joint, the fix lasted allowing us to take three months to cruise the Bahamas. It wasn't without incident, and we did have a small leak because the aft section of the keel seems to want to drop away from the hull, no matter how tightly we torque the bolt. But the leak was not so bad that we stopped our trip.
We dropped the keel
Arriving back in Miami, the nuisance of the leaking keel bolt was to be attended to once and for all. We took a quick break, and began looking for a DIY Yard to handle our keel issue. First up was to find a place where asking for a "Keel Cradle" wasn't met with blank stares. We found one a hundred miles north of Miami. Cracker Boy was a much improved DIY experience over Playboy, and we'll make sure everyone we hear talking about Playboy knows the difference going forward.
Unnerving as it were, dropping the keel was an experience worthy of note. There is nothing so reassuring as knowing every inch of your boat, and I'd bet there are not many boat owners who have pulled their boat so far apart as to separate the boat from the keel, the mast from the boat, and the engine from the engine compartment; simultaneously.
Our Facebook page has a set of pictures we took of this experience here.
We are re-powered
Lasata was built in 1984, and was most likely delivered equipped with a 20 HP Volvo Penta diesel engine. At some point the previous owner replaced that beast with a 13 HP 2GM Yanmar; a more civilized looking engine in my opinion. Lasata was mostly under-powered in my opinion. So with a Yanmar showing age, and the evident lack of power, it was time to put a new freshwater cooled 20 HP engine back in the boat. Enter; the Yanmar 3YM20, a nice quiet smooth three cylinder diesel which is sure to provide many years of reliable service.
With all this new stuff, and major maintenance, we have a new Boat Survey! Great news, the boat is worth a couple thousand more than I paid for it fifteen years ago. The only hits on the survey were very minor; one was to install a high-water alarm, and the other was to install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Not bad...
Pulling the boat it became instantly obvious the issue was the rear portion of the keel, as it hung 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the hull. This is not good, and is very likely the cause of the leak. Once on jack stands, I went to work to check the torque on the aft set of bolts. As disappointed as I was to find the bolt rotted away below the hull, I was happy that it appeared to be the only bolt affected. Mind you, every one of the fourteen bolts were replaced by a yard in Maryland five years ago. Just goes to show, you need to keep an eye on everything.
I went off to get some expert advice, and very quickly found plenty to go around. Everyone seems to have extravagant ideas on how to fix something as simple as a rotted bolt. The most outrageous idea was to use a plasma torch and cut a section from the aft edge of the keel and run bolts through the cut off section. Beneteau insisted the only way to do it was to drop the keel. The ideas were totally out of the question for me. One was too extreme and the other too time consuming, we needed to get to the Bahamas.
Temporary repair and repaint the bottom.
Sometimes a quick and easy fix is just what is needed to get the job done, while allowing one the time to evaluate possible long-term solutions. Thankfully I was able to get the broken bolt out of the keel without removing it, saving lots of time and heartache. Much to the surprise of the local boatyard contractors, all it took was a steady hand, patience, and a little know how.
The first thing was to clean the jagged remains of the bolt. Using a Dremel and a small cylindrical grinding head, I smoothed the top of the bolt flat. This left a small ring where the outline of the bolt was visible against the outline of the threads cut into the keel. Next I simply drilled a hole, starting from the smallest diameter working my way to a hole large enough to set an "EZ-Out" screw extractor. Lucky for me, the yard I paid to do this job did use a generous amount of Anti-Seize compound and the bolt came out without incident.
The fix lasted
With a new bolt and flexible epoxy patch along the exterior of the keel joint, the fix lasted allowing us to take three months to cruise the Bahamas. It wasn't without incident, and we did have a small leak because the aft section of the keel seems to want to drop away from the hull, no matter how tightly we torque the bolt. But the leak was not so bad that we stopped our trip.
We dropped the keel
Arriving back in Miami, the nuisance of the leaking keel bolt was to be attended to once and for all. We took a quick break, and began looking for a DIY Yard to handle our keel issue. First up was to find a place where asking for a "Keel Cradle" wasn't met with blank stares. We found one a hundred miles north of Miami. Cracker Boy was a much improved DIY experience over Playboy, and we'll make sure everyone we hear talking about Playboy knows the difference going forward.
Unnerving as it were, dropping the keel was an experience worthy of note. There is nothing so reassuring as knowing every inch of your boat, and I'd bet there are not many boat owners who have pulled their boat so far apart as to separate the boat from the keel, the mast from the boat, and the engine from the engine compartment; simultaneously.
Our Facebook page has a set of pictures we took of this experience here.
We are re-powered
Lasata was built in 1984, and was most likely delivered equipped with a 20 HP Volvo Penta diesel engine. At some point the previous owner replaced that beast with a 13 HP 2GM Yanmar; a more civilized looking engine in my opinion. Lasata was mostly under-powered in my opinion. So with a Yanmar showing age, and the evident lack of power, it was time to put a new freshwater cooled 20 HP engine back in the boat. Enter; the Yanmar 3YM20, a nice quiet smooth three cylinder diesel which is sure to provide many years of reliable service.
With all this new stuff, and major maintenance, we have a new Boat Survey! Great news, the boat is worth a couple thousand more than I paid for it fifteen years ago. The only hits on the survey were very minor; one was to install a high-water alarm, and the other was to install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. Not bad...
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