Seal up keelbox

My Seahawk Totte is leaking via the keelbox and I would like to have it sealed up. But I am not sure how this is done best? I know this will impair sailing, but it may save Totte some time as a small cabine motorsailed boat.

Initially, I wanted to have the jammed keel fixed and had the boat checked at a yard. They told me the cost for a new keel and and a repaired keelbox would come close to 5000£. Hence, I decided to look for another boat. The cost for having the yard take the jammed keel up and down (which made the leak more substantial) was 300 £.

I came super close to buying a Havkat 18 Catamaran in super condition, but 2 days before the agreed pick up, it was sold to another :-(

Depressed by this, I ended up buying an Orion 20 dropkeel boat, where the keel is restored but not yet put back in place...

So now I have 2 drop keel boats that needs work. The leaky Seahawk is on my trailer, and I need the trailer to go and get my Orion sailboat. The plan is to put the Seahawk in the water ASAP, but first I would like to seal the leak.

Any recommendations on how best to seal up the keelbox slit? Would you recommend removing the drop keel first? Or can I just leave that rusty keel in place as additional ballast?

Any thoughts and experience on this is much welcome.

Best regards, Thomas

Hi Thomas,

I've just checked back on your introductory post and looked again at the photos there. Totte, had certainly had a hard life and been somewhat abused when you took her on. However, to suggest that it would cost £5,000 to fix the keel is less a serious estimate and more a statement that they didn't want the work. But to be fair to them, even at a fifth of their price, it would still be in excess of the boats likely value with the work done.

Because of that I'd say you have to treat her as a project boat and every potential buyer will have a different project in mind. So I say do nothing that closes down options. Sell her as is! It will be bought by someone with a particular purpose in mind, most likely to strip all the sailing fittings, mount an over large outboard on the transom and use her as a platform for fishing. However, if your sails and rigging are even barely usable, then you've got to allow for a buyer who is prepared to do the work to bring her back into proper sailing condition. Certainly don't try to convert her into a not-quite-a-Pedro with their extremely poor sailing performance.

In short, I'd be inclined to do nothing and market her honestly "as is". That way you have nothing to do to the boat and your market remains open to both impoverished DIY sailors and those who don't really want a yacht at all, just something that floats.