Does anyone have any insight on the cost of having the keel dropped and re-bedded to the hull on a Nonsuch 30 or similar. I am looking at purchasing said boat. Sea trial survey coming up next week and would like to have feedback of the cost if I should have to do that. There seems to be excessive water in the bilge and recent survey on hard mentioned cracks between keel and hull.
Brian
Boat-less in New England
Had my 30U’s loose keel dropped and re-bedded back around 1996. Seem to remember cost was around $7,000 U.S. back then. Took about two weeks total.
Mike
BIANKA
1986 30U
Long Island
Mike
Thanks for the wake up call.
Seems serious. I will keep a good eye out for any signs of trouble on the haul out, pressure wash, inspection, re-launch then sea trials.
Has anyone else done this?
Brian,
HINE
I had the keel on Nonsuch Luck dropped and re-bedded in the fall of 2019. There is a PDF document in the Members’ Area of the INA website, see Members’ Tips & Projects, and scroll down to the bottom of the list to Keel Repair.
If you can’t access the document in the Members Area I can send you the file separately. The cost (pre-pandemic of course) was £3,300 at a time when the GBP was worth about US$1.30. A lot of the cost of the repair was having to ‘dig’ out two of the keel bolts from within the lead of the keel, you may not have to do that.
Bob Illingworth
Nonsuch Luck 30U #367 (GBR1262T)
Moored Titchmarsh marina, Essex, UK; cruising the rivers of East Anglia, and, the North Sea.
I had the keel on Nonsuch Luck dropped and re-bedded in the fall of 2019. There is a PDF document in the Members’ Area of the INA website, see Members’ Tips & Projects, and scroll down to the bottom of the list to Keel Repair.
If you can’t access the document in the Members Area I can send you the file separately. The cost (pre-pandemic of course) was £3,300 at a time when the GBP was worth about US$1.30. A lot of the cost of the repair was having to ‘dig’ out two of the keel bolts from within the lead of the keel, you may not have to do that.
Bob Illingworth
Nonsuch Luck 30U #367 (GBR1262T)
Moored Titchmarsh marina, Essex, UK; cruising the rivers of East Anglia, and, the North Sea.
Brian -
Before you get too far into dropping the keel, take a look at my picture of my 30U. It is common to have cracking in the keel-to-hull joint on Nonsuch. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the crack is causing the bilge water. In my opinion, I have excess water in my bilge (compared to others) but it is most likely coming from a lot of other places, mostly topsides. If I suck all of the water out of my bilge it will stay dry until I either go sailing or it rains. Many of the penetrations through the deck could be causing the bilge water. The hole at the anchor chain is a prime candidate that can only be lessened on my boat. Add the cockpit locker lids that commonly let water in and it only takes one rain storm to cause water in my bilge. The original sealant is past its life and needs to be replaced.
I’ve added a bilge pump counter to keep tabs on how often it runs and I periodically (like 4x a year) suck out the bilge. If there’s ‘excess water’ in the bilge then perhaps there’s something wrong with the bilge pump switch? I’ve replaced 2 that were not functioning correctly over the past 3 years.
Just some other thoughts for you.
Good luck!
Bob Gehrman
NS30U #396 “Quickbeam”
Baltimore, Maryland
PS: Just had my bottom soda-blasted last month and they faired the keel for me, so no more cracks! Gained at least 1 knot! Haha!
Water always collected below the level of the bilge pump in Nonsuch Luck before the keel was dropped and re-bedded. It was seawater. After sponging out the bilge to dryness a very slow trickle of water could be seen around the keel bolts. Since the repair, the bilge stays
dry unless we have heavy rain when water from the base of the mast drains into it.As part of the repair, the boatyard cut a 10mm (⅜”) rebate around the top edge of the keel which creates a gap between the keel and the hull the sealant (Sikaflex) fills the gap and can flex with the keel to prevent a crack from forming.
The boatyard also cut 6mm (¼”) stainless steel washers for the keel bolts which provide a much firmer grip between the bolts and the hull.
Bob Illingworth
Nonsuch Luck 30U #367 (GBR1262T)
Moored Titchmarsh marina, Essex, UK; cruising the rivers of East Anglia, and, the North Sea.
About 5 years ago I had similar “cracks” where the keel joins the hull. There was a trickle of water coming through one or two of the keel bolts, causing a small persistent pool of water to be in the bilge at all times. When the boat hauled and it was hanging on the lift, you could even wiggle the keel and see just a tiny bit of movement at the aft end of the joint. That looked really scary at the time. So, on the advice of other nonsuch owners, I had the boatyard reseal the joint and then tighten the bolts (bolt tightening was only $75). After that, no more water came through the bolts and the “crack” was gone. It turned out to be no big deal. The most significant source of bilge water for me was the seal around the mast boot. I wrapped the mast boot with mast boot tape and that fixed that problem.
Good luck!
Chris Lundeen
Cornelius Mollig N30U 492
Alameda, CA
Do you have a stuffing box? When I acquired Tiroc in 2013 the bilge had to be pumped or bailed weekly, until the stuffing box was repacked. Then very little or no water in the bilge.
Mike Darlington
Tiroc 26C
Whitby Ontario
No the stuffing box was not putting forth the required drips and the keel was squirting water from the fissure between the keel and the stub. The bilge water tasted very salty with 3”to 4” inches water 5 days after I pumped and dried it with paper towels. Have pictures taken during survey, haul out and sea trials. The keel was loose and letting water into the bilge. I passed on that boat. These beautiful old boats need someone to perfect the art of dropping and re-bedding the keel for a fair price. In the mean time my quest continues.
Brian
Boat-less in New England
