Surgery Deep in the Heart of an H28 

Continued

In with the New: I set about restrengthening the keel by adding three bulkheads. Placing one in the same position as the original, a second forward (under the saloon bulkhead) and the third half was between the first two. Whereas the original bulkhead was of relatively thin plywood, kept in place by glue around its edges, I covered the new ones with multiple layers of fibreglass, then glassed them into position. These new bulkheads would have saved the Titanic!  For added strength, I placed strips of double layer fibreglass, about 10cm wide along each side of the lower hull, ie where the hull curves to form the keel. The keel was now ready to receive the new ballast. As per the boat’s specifications, the new ballast had to weigh 1800kgs. I achieved this by using 1200kgs of lead ingot, 500kgs of cement, and the remaining 100kgs being made up of fine crushed gravel and two drums of Nuplex Polyplex 3001. We placed the ingots in single layers along the full length of the keel, using the gravel chips to fill the gaps. The Nuplex was then poured in to form a solid layer. We repeated this process until all the ingots had been used. At this stage the ballast reached two-thirds the way up the keel. Realising that I had a lot of space with the heavier lead, I decided not to go to the expense of purchasing the last 500kgs of ingots, simply finishing the job by pouring in concrete to the same weight (even with the concrete, there is still a 75mm gap between the floor and top of the keel).

Once the floor was put back, we could say the job was finished. The inside of the boat however, was a hell of a mess! Punchings, fibreglass sanding dust and rust had gotten into every place possible. While Centesimal had been out of the water, we also gave the outside some attention, giving it a completely new paint job, replacing or renovation suspect fittings and woodwork, and replacing the milky perspex windows with ones we could actually see through.

Thoughts: now that the job is done, I am very pleased with the results. The boat feels the same as it always did, the there appears to be no change in its handling characteristics. Recently, at an H28 race series held in Nelson, Centesimal performed very well, achieving a straight run of second places. I am happy that I now "know" what is in my keel, and to enable checking periodically, I have fined "lift up" sections to the floor. I do not like places in a boat that ate sealed off at the time of manufacture 20 plus years is a long time to never be able to check for water, cracking, rust or whatever! Since the bulkhead forward of the engine was the source of our problems, I recommend that other H28 owners check theirs. The H28 is a great boat for the money, especially when compared to the price of other yachts today. I have looked around many of the country’s marinas, and noticed many good examples of the class. Some others are starting to show their age, but like my boat, I am sure they would respond well to a bit of TLC. Certainly, Centesimal has a lot of sea miles in her yet!

Happy Sailing.