[Rhodes22-list] Drying out the keel cavities

Sat Aug 2 11:40:03 EDT 2014

For those who are dying to know how the process of drying out the keel is
going, I thought I would post a couple of pictures showing what I am doing. 

I plugged the holes in the sole of the boat and drilled drain holes at the
bottom of the keel and then adjusted the boat fore and aft so that the
bottom of the keel was horizontal. I then made an adapter from plumbing bits
and pieces and shop vac parts that I then inserted into voids on both sides
of the keel like a stethoscope, attached it to the blower side of the vac
and turned it on. The point of the double sided adapter was simply to allow
more air in and to do both sides at the same time. 

Water started dripping from several holes immediately that had not come out
through gravity alone so that is a good sign. I plan to just let it blow
until I think any remaining water has evaporated. The air going in is heated
by the vac to about 110 degrees at the vac and about 90 degrees where it
enters the keel. I will monitor the temperature of the base of the keel in
the hope that as it dries the temperature will raise and then stabilize.

The inside of the boat is about 120 degrees in the sun as I have a heavy
brown tarp covering it. That should dry out any remaining moisture  that
might be in the boat.

I am keeping my fingers crossed - except for the one that my band saw took a
liking to.

Graham 

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of The Rhodes 22 Email
List
Sent: August-01-14 9:27 AM
To: 'The Rhodes 22 Email List'
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] How's your keel work progressing?

Thanks to all for their suggestions. It seems like the consensus is to find
a way to heat the keel. That makes sense and very helpful to know what
temperature to aim for. If that doesn't work the bulldozer with a jet engine
is next. I'll let you all know what happens. Meanwhile I gave myself a nasty
cut with the band saw and that is slowing me down. 

Graham Stewart
gstewart8 at cogeco.ca
613 389-1737

-----Original Message-----
From: rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org] On Behalf Of The Rhodes 22 Email
List
Sent: August-01-14 7:27 AM
To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] How's your keel work progressing?

Graham,

Another option you have to speed up the evaporation process would be with
heat. I'll let you figure out how to do it. I recall someone else that did
this  using electric heaters.

Rummy

In a message dated 7/31/2014 6:55:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org writes:

Thanks  Rummy:

I have tried both sucking and blowing. The water is at the  bottom of the
keel in and around the cement fill which is cracked so I  can't get a tube
down there to suck up the water. So now I have drilled  some holes at the
outside bottom of the keel and have the  shop vac  blowing in from the top
in the hope that the pressure will push the water  out. It is working to
some degree and at least I can see if the water is  dripping. When I drill a
new hole I often find that the material the comes  out is damp. I doubt that
either strategy will work and even evaporation  seems problematic as the
water is in and around the keel material where  there would be very little
air circulating. If I seal it up while there is  any significant water in
there I might well have the problem of the cracks  develop come freeze up. 

I have wondered about these options: 

-  trying to flush out the moisture with alcohol,
- adding antifreeze and seal  it up,
- just let the vacuum go for as long as it takes,
- cutting out  large chunks of the sides of the keel and remove what is
there and letting  the area air dry,
- pour in thinned epoxy, epoxy paint or polyester  thinking it would go to
the bottom and displace the water up where it might  do less damage or be
more prone to evaporation.

None of these  options are particularly appealing either because they might
not work or  involve a huge effort - I have kind of had my fill with huge
efforts. I am  rally annoyed with myself for letting this happen. With the
large cracks  open for three years I at least figured that any water in the
keel would  have drained out. Now that I have nicely sealed the cracks I
have water in  the keel. 

Graham 

-----Original Message-----
From:  rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org
[mailto:rhodes22-list-bounces at rhodes22.org]  On Behalf Of The Rhodes 22
Email List
Sent: July-31-14 8:41 AM
To:  rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] How's your keel  work progressing?

Graham,
Good idea of using the shop vac, but I  think you will have better results
if you taped it off and sucked instead  of blowing. I have used this method
to remove moisture from several  projects over the years including
industrial flat  roofs that were  saturated with water.
I recently purchased ($113.00 from Amazon) a cheap 10  x 20 canopy to put
RumRunner under so that I can rebed her ports. Rains  here are hard to
predict  and she won't fit into my garage.  

Rummy

In a message dated 7/30/2014 7:13:58 P.M. Eastern  Daylight Time,
rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org  writes:

http://www.rhodes22.org/pipermail/rhodes22-list/attachments/20140730/7d8876d
7/attachment.jpg   

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