I've been reading about keel bolts.

When I hauled Spellbound there was a crack around the join between the keel and the hull. being an old wooden boat, and remembering that the crack hasen't changed much since the last haul, I'm not too worried about it.

However I did read that the Bolts should be re-tourqued.

The Bolts are bronze, the keel lead and the boat wood, any suggestions as to what they should be torqued to?

Any technique? or Just tighten'em up?

SHANE

Just tighten them up. If you break one they need replacing.

Ahhh John, you realize that the world has changed you Fossil you. Nowadays , should the keel fall off at any time in the next ten years, you will be sued by an army of lawyers.

http://www.engineershandbook.com/Tables/torque3.htm

might be a good place to start.

I presume there is an order to do them in - presumably you treat them like an engine head and zig zag down and back up the line on the diagonal.....

Umm I'm pretty sure there's only one line!

Also I did read that one of the main problems was doing them up too tight!

I'll check that URL out tho, thanks.

SHANE

I'd go with Fossils recommendation - if he doesn't know no one does.

We have one of his boats and that's exactly what we did 8 years ago and have no problems. A slight crack should be no problem - Fossil ??

Pretty hard to overtighten - If the washer starts disappearing into the wood you should probably stop at that point