How to drop a keel

Once the floor was opened and the fuel tank removed, 

Lifting the boat off the keel

we were able to cut the fuel basin to expose the keel bolts that needed to be removed. The next step in the process is to bring in the travel lift again to lift the boat. The theory is that the keel will stay on the blocks and just the boat would lift, but this rarely happens. With a little moral persuasion the keel dropped about an inch to the blocks. The boat was lifted higher to allow room to clean off the old sealant and apply the new sealant (3M's 5200). 

A dropped keel

Once the sealant has been evenly spread on 

Applying the new sealant

both sides, the boat is lowered and the keel bolts tightened with a torque wrench to 120 pounds. We finished this process late Friday so it has the weekend to cure/harden. Monday, we start putting things back together and preparing to fibreglass the keel.

Tightening the keel bolts through the floor

Seafood shop downtown Oriental

Sailcraft closes during the weekends, so we spent Saturday riding the courtesy bikes around town. We found a small building (used to be a garage) in the heart of town that sold seafood - flounder, salmon from Canada, scallops, shrimps, crab meat, lobster tails (frozen), clams and oysters...and most of it fresh. We bought a pound of scallops and a tub of crab meat. Sunday we spent the day cleaning up the boat and cooking dinner...it was sure nice to be back aboard our home.