Removing the keel
Ok, I may be wrong in my terminology here. Typically the keel is below the hull, however in the Flying Dutchman the bottom of the hull is almost flat. There is a centre board that can be lowered, but I am not sure if that is also called a keel.
What I am refering to here is the stiff board running down the center of the boat on the inside of the hull.
The original board was three quarters of an inch thick and seemed to be two seperate piece of wood. The board was so decayed I could not tell if it had split or if it was always two pieces.
Removing the old keel was easy. I just lifted it up and pulled it out. That was in spite of 30 screws through the hull and into it. Even the fibreglass that was keeping it in place just fell away. There definately was no strength left in that piece of wood.
The new one that I built out of treated decking material is infinately stronger... but probably a bit heavier too.
After removing the old keel, I used my power sander to smooth out where the old fibreglass was attached to the hull. This prep'd the area for the new keel to be inserted.
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