Hi guys, this my first post here. I have crewed on boats for years and finally want to get my own little boat. I have come across a little sailboat near me but it has some damage to the keel from the owner of the boat not checking it correctly before transporting it, and so for about 500kms the keel must have been slapping on the jinker trailer. It is an aluminum hulled Herman Borro "Starcraft" 22' (you can find it on gumtree now). The owner bought it on a whim knowing nothing about sailing but wanting to learn, but instead it has spent two years sitting in his shed (undercover) doing nothing. I looked at the boat today, and the rear of the keel has been bogged up with some sort of horrible rubber goo. He said he pumped it in there until it didnt come out any more. The keel is filled with cement, of which a bit of it has cracked. The crack in the keel I am talking about I have no clue about the size, but given the area he bogged up its likely substantial. There is also a crack through the two pack up where the keel joins on to the hull. Aside from this likely major issue, the boat is in really good condition. Now, I can braze very well, and have many years ago purchased a tig welder so I have the technical skills to repair the boat (I am a fabrication tradesman). My idea was to remove the cement from the hull (maybe) and then knock of the paint along the seam of the hull and the keel, to check for anything major, tig weld a patch over the bog hole, and then reinforce along the inside of the keel/hull seam with aluminum angle tigged over the top to reinforce. There is every chance that I am being a hypochondriac, and that maybe the extent of the damage isnt too bad, so maybe the "bog it up" fix may have worked. Do these sound like the plans of a mad man? I cant post pictures yet because I am a new member.

It would be easier to weld with a mig rather than tig. Much faster and you can really dump a lot of aluminium into the weld. Aluminium boats, trailers etc are built with mig these days. Check out a few youtube videos on the subject. The rest of your idea is sound. All that black goo will have to go and I suspect there may be some lead or even cast iron in with the concrete. I had a Star 26 aluminium commercial fishing vessel built in WA in 1983 and it was well built. The Star 22 trailer sailer with the lifting keel came out about the same time.

How over the top am i being though? Is there a chance of much damage to the keel/hull seam? How much flexibilty will that ali have? The guy want $4k for it with the trailer. The rigging is a hodge podge of pulleys and rope and there seems to be a lot missibg. Also it has no jib. Just a main and a spinnaker.

Hi mad. There is a site called trailersailerplace. They are really knowledgeable about trailer sailers ( surprisingly) . They wil help with valuation and sails etc. stick here but give them a try as well.
Gary

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garymalmgren said..
Hi mad. There is a site called trailersailerplace. They are really knowledgeable about trailer sailers ( surprisingly) . They wil help with valuation and sails etc. stick here but give them a try as well.
Gary

Champion. Thanks mate

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MadButcher said..
How over the top am i being though? Is there a chance of much damage to the keel/hull seam? How much flexibilty will that ali have? The guy want $4k for it with the trailer. The rigging is a hodge podge of pulleys and rope and there seems to be a lot missibg. Also it has no jib. Just a main and a spinnaker.

Depends how keen you are to have an aluminium boat. Personally If I were in WA I could spend 4 grand on plenty of other trailer sailers.
The biggest mistake I made when I had my Star built was to have it painted in two pot paint. If I had left it bare I probably would still have it!

I think the best trailer sailer is the Windrush Wildfire which came out of W.A. Might be hard finding one for sale.

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cisco said..
I think the best trailer sailer is the Windrush Wildfire which came out of W.A. Might be hard finding one for sale.

There are a few about for sale. There is one only a few miles from my place that has some hull damage.

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MadButcher said..
Aside from this likely major issue, the boat is in really good condition.

I'm on TrailerSailerPlace, too - plenty of folks with a lot of knowledge.

The following might sound a little negative, but I assume that you want to enjoy some sailing without breaking the bank.

My first reaction is that this 22ft aluminium boat (with a busted keel and bodged goo repair) and trailer is not in good condition. It could spend another 2 years in a shed while you figure out how to repair it. My advice would be to set yourself a modest budget, let's say $10K as a benchmark, and get the best condition boat/trailer combo you can find. It might be smaller than you had hoped. The trailer is where the value is - the boat without the trailer is worthless. There are plenty of end-of-life vessels (both boat and owner) coming on to the market, which means there is plenty of neglected junk to avoid. I can't stress condition enough. If you want to go sailing, get a really small boat in perfect condition. If you want it to spend 2 years in a shed before you get sick of it and pay someone else to take away the wreckage, get a project.

Notes on condition. Others might chime in here;
A novice will probably look at the hull and wonder if it leaks (not a spurious concern, especially with an aluminium hull). With some experience, you will look for the expensive or difficult repairs, such as spongy decks on a balsa-core construction near fixtures that are drilled into the cabin-top, or dodgy electrics (generally - crimping is good, soldering is bad, twisted wire covered in insulation tape is worse still), or a keel that does not swing or drop (difficult to inspect on a trailer), or a rudder assembly with lots of slop, or a trailer with lower surfaces flaking off with rust, or leaking windows, or poor gel-coat/paint, or damage to the mast-step and standing rigging. I also get horribly disturbed whenever I see bathroom silicon, builder's bog, chipboard, MDF or brass (not bronze) on a boat.

With an old aluminium boat, look carefully for corrosion, especially in the places that are hard to get to. If it has spent most of its life under cover, the aluminium might still be nice and thick. Watch out for corrosion at spots where dissimilar metals are in contact.

Don't remove the concrete without first doing some research. Technically, it would be cement mortar, not concrete (it becomes concrete when you add gravel aggregate), but it has its place in the bilge as ballast, and to displace water. If you do take it out, think about replacing it with some fresh mortar, but you should do it in such a way as to get the trim right, else the thing will sail horribly.