Cavalier 32 keel bolts, a happy find

[Pecco 12]

So, I owned a cavalier 32 for 6 years now.

Researching the cav 32 keel bolts on the web always turned into a  depressing affair. 

The answer was always J rod/bolts in the keel... meaning the thought of having a look in there always gave me nightmares.

Making it short, I got the boat on the hard for other projects and noticed a slight dampness at the keel and hull joint.

 obviously I could not turn a blind eye and started digging around.

To my biggest surprise I actually found the 5 slots in the keel where to undo the bottom bolt.

Now, I ll probably will have to change this bolts and that's not an easy one  but, at list there is a way.

So, if you have a cav 32 and had been led to believe you have J bolts, it may not be true...it s a good thing!

I ve been trying to find what apear to be M20 bronze threaded rod. Is that the go? 

 

[Black Panther 1,806]

Years ago a cav32 was run into a rock at just over 7kn. The front of the keel was mulched but the bolts the hull and the join were unaffected. A bit of work with a plane and some bog and away she went. Still sailing around today. 

The factory painted the tops inside the hull with epoxy, it kept the nuts from turning. That thin epoxy skin hadn't cracked.

[Pecco 12]

Right, That epoxy is still on 3 of the 5 bolts. 

It looks like at some point someone changed the aft 2 with stainless.

The two middle of keel are still original and are almost at the bottom of the keel, definitely strong!

I did find a bit of water in those bottom slots hence my will to explore.....

[Frank 192]

If the Bronze rods are Aluminium Bronze then they should be as good as new , probably true for Phosphor Bronze as well, also I have heard of Hard Drawn Copper being used occasionally . For SS bolts I would want to see the condition at the hull/keel junction to ensure there is no crevice corrosion or pitting. The installation sounds like its substantially over engineered which was often the case for boats of that era, a good thing of course

[Guest 141]

Changed my galv bolts out for 2205 ss in 2010. A couple of the galv were wasted.

[waikiore 507]

The Aluminium Bronze and Monel bolts that were used here in the 70's -early eighties are way superior to most of what is available today.

[Chewing Gum 17]

Cav keels were drilled holes for the bolts with slots melted out with gas axe for bottom nuts and washers. Pretty sure bolts are monel and very unlikely to fail. Peter Smith at Rocna can confirm and would be worth contacting. 

[Pecco 12]

Unfortunately, I am no expert and when I looked at them, it looked like stainless.

I have never seen money before so, I wouldn't know.

What I know is they looked good. Water ingress was only shy of them so, it was all revealed in time...

[dmac 0]

I've got a keel bolt question for my Cav32. Mine was built in 1974 so mid to later end of the production line. When I purchased it, it had a rectangular fibreglass packer around the aft most keel bolt (top of the image) which intersected the timber/fibreglass stringer. Only about half the threads where in contact with the bolt and I think some glue at the top of the both helped to fix it in place. I'd always thought this was some temp maintenance patch job that previous owner/s never got around to fixing.

However, I've since removed the 5mm fibreglass packer expecting to see some reason for it underneath in the bilge like cracks or something else, but I thought given the close distance to the stringer this could be from the construction? Could the stringer could have been accidentally installed too close to the aft keelbolt? The distance certainly wouldn't give much room for the stainless washer of the same size as the other keel bolts. Unless it was partially encapsulated? I've seen other examples of encapsulated bolts such as some of the headsail car bolts intersecting the galley cabinets - so it wouldn't surprise me if this is the case. Or did they come out of the factory with very minimal washers?

Anyway, my second and more important question is - to remedy this, can I put the stainless washer in place like the other keelbolts even if it covers the stringer and the glass? Or should I glass across the cut stringer to reinforce where it has been cut? This is assuming there's no cracks (none that I could see this evening in the dim light anyway).

[Pecco 12]

On 2/08/2025 at 8:30 PM, dmac said:

 

Hi there, 

I am not sure why two bolts are so close by.

On my cav they are way more spaced out. I believe from memory there is 5 in total. 

Regarding the stringer, I would not think such a cut out would be a good thing but, what do I know??? It looks like it has been there forever though...

 

It is certainly odd.

 

Cheers

 

 

On 2/08/2025 at 8:30 PM, dmac said:

 

 

 

reason fhhhhor it underneath in the bilge like cracks or something else, but I thought given the close distance to the stringer this could be from the construction? Could the stringer could have been accidentally installed too close to the aft keelbolt? The distance certainly wouldn't give much room for the stainless washer of the same size as the other keel bolts. Unless it was partially encapsulated? I've seen other examples of encapsulated bolts such as some of the headsail car bolts intersecting the galley