Posted by jerry_magic1 (jerry_magic1@…>)
Harvey,
Per telecom, I removed several floorboard panels between the
companionway and galley and along the bilge area to look for the keel
bolts. The fluxgate compass for the autopilot and a bunch of hoses and
wires are there in the spillway from the aft of the boat to the bilge,
but there is no sign of the keel bolts.
It appears the keel bolts on my boat are completely glassed in.
Perhaps Freedom made some fabrication changes between my '87 F36 and
your '89 F38. Possibly somebody else reading this BB will have some
thougts on this. Or…possible your prior owner had to do some
construction work exposing the bolts when he modified the keel to add
the wings.
Anyhow, if I can’t gain access to my keel for use as a grounding
plate, do you have any thoughts on an alternate approach? There are a
number of heavy green wires from the bonding system that go to a
plate under the quarter berth at the aft corner of the fuel tank.
Would this be useable?
Thanks,
Jerry
Posted by Harvey Minsk (harveyminsk@…>)
Jerry,
The replacing of the original keel with the wing keel
might have made it necessary to expose the keel bolts.
I am not sure of the ground point in the quarter
bearth but it is certainly worth a try. Obviously
this is the central ground point for the whole
grounding system. I would be courious as to is this a
floating ground or is there some conneciton to the
keel from this plate?? You might give Nick Sharp at
the factory a call and see if he can give you more
info on the keel bolts. It doesn’t seem that there
was any modification on my boat as to the location of
the bolts and I don’t see where any glass was removed
to expose them.
Bonding the fuel tank with the rest of the ground
system “might” give enough ground to work but if not
then a dynaplate or a lot of foil under the sole would
be your other option. The foil method id more time
consuming but just as effective in the long run…
Harvey
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Posted by jerry_magic1 (jerry_magic1@…>)
Harvey wrote:
…
The replacing of the original keel with the wing keel
might have made it necessary to expose the keel bolts.
I am not sure of the ground point in the quarter
bearth but it is certainly worth a try.
…
You might give Nick Sharp at
the factory a call and see if he can give you more
info on the keel bolts.
Marc (another F36 owner) advised by email that the keel on shoal draft
boats like mine are completely encapsulated and there are keel bolts
only on the deep draft F36s. That sounds like the right answer.
I’ll contact Freedom to find out more about the grounding system, but
now that I think about it, I belive it may ultimately terminate on an
external 4" x 6" grounding plate on the starboard side of the hull
half way between the keel and the waterline - just about under the nav
station.
Thanks for your inputs.
Jerry