"Synergy" wintered over in dry dock and received extensive updating, modifications, and refitting. Her owner, Lem, is an officer of the Percy Priest Yacht Club and he always has plans for improving "Synergy's" race abilities. This winter that included new deck hardware, rebedding windows, canting the mast-step back to level, and refinishing the teak toerails. I was called in for bottom-side and keel help. It had been noted that "Synergy's" custom keel was not hanging plumb and was instead canted to starboard and swept back ("Synergy" has a custom, high-aspect ratio, carbon-fiber reinforced, fin-keel with bulb). These factors were causing strange handling characteristics from the 800 Lb. lead bulb mounted to the bottom of the keel; likely because it was driving nose-down through the water and relocating the CE too far aft, or even lifting the bow to compensate. The fix involved major material modifactions to both the keel and the keel-box. The project experienced many ups and downs -mostly relating to the production of molds and forms intended to test dry-fit (the actual keel and keel-box could not be tested together until launch due to size and weight constraints), and catpturing accurate datums from which to measure corrections (A 26' long boat with no right-angles makes determining level and plumb an interesting exercise). The end results were good -though a bit behind schedule. Below are several photos from the process. "Synergy" is now back in the water and racing with a corrected and improved keel, bottom-side blister repair, improved build-ups of inter-protect, and new coats of VC offshore applied with an airless spray shooter. She will need it, this year her local class includes a fast J92, sure to be nipping at her heels every race.


"Synergy" in dry-dock. The 7' tall, 840 Lb. keel is standing vertically on the left. We moved it as needed with an engine hoist.


View through companionway shows the top of the keelbox. When launched, a steel flange bolts to the top of the keelbox, and the keel bolts to the flange. For trailering, the keel must retract into the cabin almost 3'.


The original, custom keel top needs re-leveling to make up for a slope from the leading to the trailing end (upper left).


The original keel top needs re-leveling, and a new #4 bolt must be used to accomodate the new height at the trailing edge.


Casting the new keel top in thickened epoxy. The #4 bolt will be trimmed to height after dry-fit to the keel-box flange. The top of the keel and the leading edge of the foil should now be perpendicular.


The keel top after casting, shaping, and fairing. The recess in the top's center acccepts the nut-ends for the flange's lifting-hoist u-bolt.


The upper keel faired and coated with inter-protect.


Finishing the upper keel in graphite-epoxy should provide smooth lifting and lowering through the keel-box. The lower portions of the keel will be filet-faired into the upper, and the entire lower portions will be sanded, faired, inter-protected, and painted with VC Offshore.


A molded template of the upper keel's cross-section used as a collar inside the keelbox to ensure a correct fit. This helped resolve some of the challenges of keelbox shaping, but was distorted early on and required re-shaping for the final fit (when the mold was removed from the keel plug it compressed, losing width at the chord, gaining length over all, and resulting in a too narrow collar).


Keelbox from underneath, looking aft. A lot of work went into reshaping the interior of the keelbox to re-cant the keel plumb laterally and fore-and-aft. It is difficult shaping material and applying laminations in confined spaces where hands can not reach.


Trailering from Dry-dock back to the Marina boatyard for painting outdoors.


To get "Synergy from the trailer onto boatstands so she could be bottom-painted, we constructed an A-Frame gantry and used a winch as a hoist. With stands under her stern, and her bow held aloft by the hoist, the trailer was driven out from underneath and the remaining stands were placed. The gantry is guyed-out with anchored lines, but after an early accident, we took the additional precaution of using anchored lines to secure the boat's transom aft, and prevent it from shifting forward.


From this raised position, and with the ability to remove stands as needed, sanding and painting could begin in earnest. The previous coats of VC-Offshore and Interprotect were prepped and covered with 5 fresh coats of Red, VC Offshore.


After painting, it was time to fit the keel back into the boat. Another local marina, Rock Harbor, has the machine lift necessary to get "Synergy" above the keel. The keel is then retracted into "Synergy" using a cable-winch through a hole in the cabin top.


Unfortunately, the fit was too tight on the first attempt (collar problem mentioned earlier), and it was another week of shaping at Rock Harbor and checking with a revised template and calipers before we attempted a second fit. The second time the keel slid neatly into place and Synergy was ready for mast-step, final rigging, and launch. She has since launched and sailed successfully in several practice sessions and club races, even fending off the J92 within a few hundred yards of the finish line during a club race! The owner is pleased with the initial results, but it will take more practice and testing to determine the full benefits of the keel alterations.