This page describes:
How I removed and replaced a keel weldment.
I replaced the weldment on my brother's C22 because the keel bolt had broken off inside it and I couldn't remove the broken bolt. I tried drilling out the bolt but it wouldn't come out. My last resort was to cut out the weldment and drill out the broken bolt on a drill press.
I cut it out from under the boat.
First I drilled several holes straight up around the weldment to weaken the surrounding fiberglass. When the drill hit metal, I knew that I needed to go a bit wider to get around the weldment. Then I used a disk cutter (like a thin grinding wheel) to cut above the weldment. Then I was able to pry out the block of fiberglass which encased the weldment.
Then, after clearing out the broken bolt, I glassed the weldment back in.
But before re-glassing it in, I cut some horizontal slots in the sides of the remaining fiberglass. That was to give the new glass some "grip". Then I mixed some resin and added lots of chopped glass mat. To hold the weldment in proper alignment, I bolted loose weldment to the bronze keel hangar bracket and bolted the bronze keel bracket to the remaining good weldment. That held the loose weldment in the proper alignment. I also lined the back side of the bronze keel hangar with wax paper to help keep the resin from sticking to the bronze. Then I stuffed the resin/fiberglass mix up around the weldment. This took a long time because you can only add a little resin mix at a time. Gravity makes it want to fall out. But as it starts to set, stuff it in as hard as you can with sticks or your fingers (wear gloves) to force it into all the crevices. Once it starts to set... add some more and repeat. Mix the resin real thick with glass mat. That will make it easier to stuff it in.
Once it is filled in real well, you can remove the bronze keel hangar and check for voids. Fill in the voids and grind off any excess. Then re-mount the keel and go sailing.
Here is a picture of the weldment:
And here is an animated view of how I removed it:
I hope this helps.
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