While the keel was being fixed the yard worked on the area behind the keel and worked to prepare the keel stub for the reattachment process. The back of the keel stub had some bad coring and the surrounding area was ground out and prepared to have the area re-glassed. Here are some pictures of that process.
The pictures on the right show tape stuck on the bottom of the hull in case of rain, this would prevent any drops from reaching the area being worked on. This entire area would be re-glassed and will be stronger than it ever was before.
The next step is to apply what they call the goop pad ! The bottom of the keel stub and the top of the keel are not even close to being flat and they must fit snugly together. In order to make this happen they coat the top to the lead keel with mold release, an agent used in the boatbuilding industry to prevent fiberglass boats from attaching themselves to the mold which they are formed in. The bottom of the keel stub is coated with a thick layer of an epoxy mixture the thickness of peanut butter.
This layer must be thick enough to fill all the uneven areas or the keel stub. The keel is then bolted to the boat and positioned evenly port to starboard and with the correct position fore to aft as well. The epoxy cures and the keel is again removed
So a calking material can be used to seal the bolts in the stub and seal any other areas that might be subject to water intrusion. Because the keel is covered with mold release it should separate from the epoxy cleanly and with minimal effort.
Here are pictures of the boat after the goop pad has been applied. The new keel is finally on!
Next the keel will be removed and calking will be placed in-between the lead keel and the keel stub. We will use 3M 101 calking which will also be used to coat the keel bolts and fill the keel bolt holes against any water intrusion. Calking will also be used to coat the bottom of the keel bolt plates that I made and at that point all the keel bolts will be torqued to the appropriate pressure.
The GOOP pad !