Painful Extraction

Phase I of the keel project completed. The keel was removed. This involved drilling a few holes until we could find the last three bolts. Big thanks to the people of the Grevelingen boatyard for their help.

Mekicevica's keel extracted.

The way the boat was designed, you cannot get to the three aft most bolts without breaking a lot of polyester. Moreover, two of the bolts are always immersed and therefore subject to corrosion. I guess these faults are the price you pay for the fact that the box of the centre plate does not take much interior space.

The bis surprise was that the bolts are not cast as part of the keel as I had expected (and seen on pictures published on the Manta 19 website). They are separate bolts on tapered holes. Could it be that some previous owner has done some maintenance and modifications on Mekicevica's keel?

The good news is that the bolts were in very good condition. Even the two that are always under water had rusty heads but the cores were in pristine condition.
Now the bad news: The inside of the keel was even rustier that I had feared. Large slabs of rusty metal just drop-off as you touch them.

The very rusty inside of the keel. In the background, sad, keel-less Mekicevica.

The quote I got to have a new keel made is much too high, so there will be some re-construction work on the rusty keel.