Moody 346 Searching for advice before buying 346 bilge keeler

C

Christian Mies

Temporary Member
Hi everyone!

My wife an I considered having an own boat for quite some time, but now it seems we'll do it.
We found a boat we both like very much but there are some issues on it to be taken care about.
Currently I am reading and reading through this forum and the archive an I think I will find answers to most of my questions.
But if meanwhile someone likes to point me to the right threads or has some advice, here are my points:

Rudder shoe has a some play on the skeg. As I learned it is made of cast bronze and fixed with copper rivets.
I think it will have to be completely reseated and fixed properly. Grind of heads and hammer out? Reseat with epoxy or something flexible? Fix with copper rivets again or is there something better / easier?
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Antifopuling has been applied recently but on top of many old coats which flake off and are very uneven.
Am I right this sould be completely redone (scrape of and rebuild)?
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A surveyor found the keel bolts too much corroded, so they should be replaced when redoing the antifouling?
Are there drawings available of where to find all keel bolts or is there even a story published of how to drop the bilge keels?

Of course there are other things, too, as leaking chainplates, old engine, ... but those things seem pretty forward for me.

Thanks a lot for any advice!

Cheers,
Christian
 
The rudder shoe should be fitted back with a sealant. Copper rivets again would be best but some people use stainless steel bolts and nuts.
Keel bolts, nuts and plates on Moodys were mild steel and if owners leave sea water in the bilges, then they rust. Despite what the surveyor says, the bolts only rust in the exposed part - you may find they will all clean up ok and can be treated with anti-rust paint.
If they do need to be replaced, and if there are no signs of water leaking in around them, they can be replaced one at a time without removing the keels.
However if there are signs of leaks around them, then indeed the keels will need to be dropped, and resealed against the hull with new bolts.
There is a detailed article in the Technical Library if you search on ‘keel bolts’, although I’m not sure if you can access the library as a Temporary Member?
 
Hi Christian and welcome,

Most of the stuff you list is pretty standard but the one which may be a greater concern is the leaking chainplates. The chainplates go through te deck and are each bolted onto a marine plywood part bulkhead which is n turn tabbed to the hull. The deck penetrations are sealed with a sealant vovered by the small stainless steel plates you can see screwed down to the deck. Over the years, the sealant dries out and cracks permitting deck water to leak trough. If this is allowed to go on for some time, it can cause rot in the part bulkheads and ultimately the ply gets soft enough tht the bolts tear through the plywood. If this happens when sailing in a decent wind, the whole rig may be lost - a very dangerous event if the rig hits somebody.

The part bulkheads, chainplates and the bolts holding them together are hidden behind the beautiful cabinets in the saloon, so inspecting them is not easy. Surveyors often miss this problem because they can't see it. You can get access to inspect either with a small (3-5 mm) hole in the back of the cupboards / book shelves and an intrascope (fairly cheap from Amazon), or a larger hole ~ 100mm. If the plywood is in poor condition, replacing or repairing you will have to take the cabinets out.

The same mounting for the chainplates was used on all the Moody models of that era and you can read the account of a Moody 376 owner who lost his mast in the Irish sea early last year here:


Peter.
 
Wow ...
So many quick and usefull replies!
I already love this forum ;-)
Thank you very much!!!

Seems all actions are doable and have been done already ... and thanks to this forums members have been documented!

Christian
 
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