DON CASEY REPLIES

Often the damage caused by keel impact is most severe at the rear of the keel where the forces are into the hull rather than out of it as at the front. Your heavily built Nonsuch may well have shrugged off this collision, but before you write this off as just bruises, you or your surveyor should take a very close look at the hull—inside and out—particularly around the rear of the keel.

For the visible damage, the repair is straightforward. You will note that there was no fabric in the fairing putty that the keel joint has shed, and there is no reason to include cloth in your repair. The weak link is going to be the bond between resin and lead. Adding fabric will not alter that. Just grind the damaged areas clean and smooth, and the lead bright, then paint on a prime coat of epoxy resin, wire-brushing the lead through the wet epoxy. This lifts the flash oxidation that will otherwise weaken the bond between resin and lead. Let this initial coating kick, then re-fair the entire damaged area with epoxy resin thickened to a stiff putty with colloidal silica.

The damage to the lead keel is repaired in much the same way. Grind and brush the lead bright, then without delay paint it with a coat of epoxy resin. Here again, you want to wire brush the lead through the wet epoxy. Let it kick, then fair the damage with epoxy putty, using multiple applications as required. Scrub the cured epoxy with water and a Scotchbrite pad to remove the amine blush, then give it at least a week to cure, longer if you can. Sand and paint.