Cavities inside keel and around bilge areas.

[Ozzie]

Hi just edited my previous post. I’m going out but I’ll come back tomorrow. I’m sure you’ll get no end of good advice by then cheers

[Clav]

The floor is a complete hack job, but I love the access. This doesn't faze me I plan to neaten support and cover anyway.
Re the photos, if I cropped and added one at a time it worked.

The square hatch is where I took the forward bilge shot, you can see the shimmer if water at the base. I removed a lot of silicon here.

The middle ballast section exposes a tiny bit of lead.

The bottom keel bilge is where I've found the soft bit of ply. Just where my foot is.

[Peter T]

Hi Clav, you have raised many questions here and it needs to be dealt with logically.
Firstly, there are several ways water can enter the keel sections of an investigator.
1 it can come from rain water that can enter from an open hatch or lack of or poor fitting wash boards.
2 it can enter from the rudder pintles, especially the lower one.
3 the windows can leak
4 the front hatch can leak
5 the cockpit lids if have no seal can have water leak in to the lockers. Which can then leak through and in to the hull.
6 the hull can be damaged, especially along the bottom of the keel around, just in front or behind the centreboard area.
7 the centreboard pivot bolt if not sealed correctly can leak water into the bilge especially if the boat is on a mooring.
8 If the centreboard has at any time been allowed to crash down to its lowered position by just letting the rope go, the centreboard can crash into the front edge of the centreboard case which can crack or damage the fibreglass in that area and cause a leak
9 it can leak around the cockpit drain tubes if they are not fully sealed.

Now don't be frightened by this list, it could be any one of these things but they all need to be considered, working through the list from the easiest to the hardest in order.
As well as the above, it is possible that water has, because of a lot of the above reasons, may have entered into any of the " water tight" compartments of the floatation of the boat. I have read reports that water has entered the keel as water that had entered these compartments has weeped out of the join of these compartments and the hull on the inside of the boat.
With my boat, I have run a tape of fibreglass all around the top edges of the floatation modules to make sure those compartments can not leak from water from above.
You can test to see if there is any water in the floatation chambers by drilling a small hole close to the bottom of them at the lowest point in the side wall above the hull. Make sure you do not drill through the hull. If water comes out, I would drain them,cut an opening in the top, dry them out before re sealing them as I described. If no water comes out, you can just fill the small holes you drill with an epoxy filler.
To test if the bottom of the keel or the leading edge of the centreboard case has been compromised, the best way is to take the boat out of the water if it is moored, put the boat on its trailer in a shed and see if water drips out of it over a period of time. Mine had a bottom of the keel problem as well as other problems and I had water leaking from the keel on to the garage floor for a couple of months.
If water gets into the bottom of the keel around the lead, it can then lead towards the front or the back of the boat depending on if the boat is tipped forward or backwards as there is not a seal between the front, each side of the centreboard sections or the back section. This could explain why water is seeping back to a dried out area in your boat.
Normally, there is a very light ( 1 layer) of fibreglass over the top of the lead each side of the centreboard. Never should there be concrete in there as over time, the lime in the cement will react with water and the fibreglass, so I would bever recommend that. There should not be wood or ply stuck over the lead compartments.
If you look at those little square sections at the rear of the side sections of the bilge, the bottom of those small recesses is actually a lip in the rear lead ingot which has the back keel bulkhead sitting on it. Where the small lower section finishes is the point where the side lead ingots finish.
If you have to remove the side lead ingots, you will probably have to cut out the thin layer of fibreglass that covers the side lead if it is still there.
This is as far as I will go on this subject till you have more of an idea of the extent of your problem. I had to remove my side lead so that I had access to do a fibreglass repair to the inside of the bottom of the keel.
Let me know how you go. If necessary, you can phone me. If you need my number, just send me a private message and I can help you with what is required. Just believe that it can be resolved, no matter what is causing it.
Cheers for now

[Ozzie]

As I said , plenty of good advice. Also Clav try the SEARCH function at the top. It gives 62 returns on “leak” with many searches and solutions. Somewhere in there may be a clue you can follow.

If sprucing up the boat the search function is great. One or two word searches like “hatch” “keel bolt” etc work best. You may find my keel bolt seal with removable cover of use if you moor … it’s been in for 17 years.

You’re off and racing

Oceans of fun ahead

[Clav]

Pete & Ozzie,
Thank you so much for your time & feed back, you guy's are legends. I've read a lot of the advice you've provided throughout this forum. So glad I discovered this vessel and community.

[Ozzie]

You are very welcome mate. These little boats are their own reward in the end. The fact that so many of the production run are still sailing, selling and being given a second or third lease on life is a good indication that they are worth the effort. As I’ve banged on about before here, they were never marketed to Beneteau buyers but in their own little niche provide a stable and safe family friendly vessel to enjoy sailing at minimum cost.

A friend was telling me yesterday his relative has a lucrative business doing complete restorations of VW Kombi vans. As I’m an ex Kombi Camper owner/traveller I asked what a complete resto would cost 20K??. He cracked up. I was gobsmacked and I’m not kidding to hear 100k is not uncommon for the cashed up. Sold mine for about $4.5K in 95.

I guarantee you’ll get out of this for under $100k

[Clav]

I know what you mean about the Kombi, my brothers one ($2K off an old lady), a touch earlier than yours (late 80's) could hardly make it over the West gate bridge here in Melb. Which you had to use when surfing the west coast. That bridge ended up being it's demise with it's next owner. A great camper.