Posted by
ClownTrigger11 on
URL: http://kelt-sailboat-forum.30.s1.nabble.com/Potential-Kelt-7-60-owner-Maryland-tp7559659.html
Hello all,
I'm Greg and live near Annapolis. I live in a very boat oriented community, but all my friends are power boaters. I decided last year that I want to learn to sail, so I've been reading / watching everything I can get my hands on. I just picked up a tired old Sunfish that I plan to get to know for a while this spring before moving on to a real boat. I;d eventually like to day sail mostly, with the occasional weekend trip. I'll be exclusively on the Chesapeake and its tributaries.
I've come across an 83 Kelt 7.60 that I really like, but have some reservations that I hope some of you may be able to lend some wizened light on. First,
here are a bunch of pictures that I took of the boat when I went to see it. As you can see, she has an inboard Volvo Penta MD5C 10hp diesel, with I believe a 120S sail drive, and is a centerboard version. Apparently her current owner was an instructor at the Annapolis sailing school, and from what I can see, she has been very well cared for.
She comes with North Sails Main, 100% Genoa, 130% Genoa, and Storm Jib. VHF, handheld GPS, autotiller, spotlight, all the other standard fare, and years and years of records going back to the original owner. There aren't any offensive odors in the cabin and everything was winterized properly. Sounds great right?
My number one reservation is the keel. According to the broker, the owner said that years ago when he had the original gelcoat removed to add an epoxy barrier coat, the aft end of the keel opened a gap at the hull when they dug out the original putty and the "caulking" they used didn't stick. I wish that I had a better picture of it, but you can kinda see it in the one picture of the keel. Apparently when it's in slings, that opens up to about 1/2 - 3/4". The broker thinks the keel bolts could be tightened, and said the owner told him that it has never been a problem in all the years that he had it. I've read about the corrosion around the table leg on centerboard Kelts, so I hope the pictures I took of that area are sufficient to make an educated guess. The forward sole boards were still screwed down, sorry. I want to know if I should be prepared to drop the keel and re-bed it, or if I should just leave it alone or shoot some 5200 in the gap and call it a day.
My second hangup is the engine and drive. I have no issue with rebuilding either one as I'm quite mechanically inclined, but getting to anything in there looks like a nightmare. I could gain a little bit of clearance if I pulled the alternator off, but not much. There's a small 1' x 1' access panel in the hanging locker behind the head, which looks like I'd need to be a contortionist to make useful. Obviously I'd need to rip out the galley to get to the port side of it. I've seen on other boats where they've added a large access panel to the cockpit floor for just this reason. Has anyone done this on a Kelt? If I could get to the top of everything from the cockpit, I could put that hangup to bed.
On to the little things..
The sheaves built into the mast step don't spin. At least not the ones with any lines in them. I don't see any way to remove them for maintenance either. Is this common? Do I need to worry about the halyard sheaves at the top of the mast?
The headliner is drooping. How big a deal is it to remove / reattach?
Can I get parts for those meissner winches somewhere if necessary? I'd like to just replace them with newer harken self-tailing winches, but that might be a while and I kinda like the originality and "european-ness" of the meissners.
Stupid question.. I don't really understand the super shallow bilge. Is there anything under what I'm seeing under the sole boards or is that the hull?
On that note I didn't see a bilge pump anywhere except the manual one in the cockpit. Does the bilge in the cabin drain to the aft bilge somehow? Has anyone fitted an automatic pump? If so, where?
Is there anything else you notice from the pictures that gives you pause?
Thanks in advance everyone. If any of you happen to be in my area and would care to show off your boat to a total newbie, I wouldn't say no. :)