Jeanneau Eolia 25 keel moving

[sydost]

Hello! I have a Jeanneau Eolia 25 from 1986. A week ago while lifting the boat from lay-up back to water it was noticed that the aft edge of the keel has an up / down movement of about 5mm when lowering the boat on its keel. Front part of the keel doesn't have movement and the movement on the aft part is not enough to break the hull / keel flexible seal.



I would have tightened the keel bolts as a first measure to try to rectify it but the keel bolts are laminated inside glassfiber so it is not possible without removing the glassfiber. Now I am wondering what kind of construction there is around the keel bolts so I can plan the required actions. Does anyone here have any advice on how to deal with this or experience doing this kind of job on the older Jeanneaus?



Anyway I am starting to think that there probably is more work needed than just tightening as the keel bolts are probably original.

[MalcolmP]

As water must have penetrated the keel to hull seal, I do think it would be sensible to drop the keel, inspect the bolts, quite possibly renew and re-bed on sealant. Providing you have access to a decent boat yard crane, it may not be quite as daunting as it first might sound. Many new Jeanneau's are shipped without their keels so it is quite common job.

There is some guidance here on quite a bit larger SO43DS:

  jeanneau-owners.com/hintsandtips/KeelSO43DS.html

Do keep us informed, good luck