Keel Screws

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Corey
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Mar 27, 2017 11:27 pm

Keel Screws

Post by Corey »

I installed my keel with the supplied brass screws and cups. I am ready to glass the inside of the hull but am unsure whether to epoxy/glass right over those screws or treat them similarly to the inside stems, leaving the glass over the screws free of epoxy and cutting it away after the surrounding epoxy has hardened. This might give me easier access to the screws in the future but risks water tight integrity. Any advice?
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cedarphile
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Jan 22, 2017 11:41 am

Re: Keel Screws

Post by cedarphile »

I glass over the keel screws to ensure watertightness. I don't use decorative cups for the screws though I now it's traditional with Old Town and other makers. The cups were used by cedar/canvas canoe makers to distribute the force on the screw so they wouldn't pull through if the keel suffered a catastrophic blow. The keel in a cedar/canvas canoe isn't glued to the canvas, just set into bedding compound. So the screws are the only thing holding the keel to the hull.

Retaining access to the keel screws in a cedarstrip in the future is a moot point. You probably epoxied on the keel so if the keel took a sideways blow hard enough to tear off the keel, you"ll be in for lots of grinding and sanding anyway to smooth out the hull in preparation for installing a new keel. If the old keel screws are sticking out of the hull, simply grind of the pointed end of the screws flush to the hull.
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