What a keel is and why it should be made in a solid way is probably not worth telling here. What types of wood are the best for keeling? Tek, oak, elm, amaranth…. generally strong, resistant to rot, giving rigidity to the whole boat.
Were pine keels made?
Of course. Because not all boats have to sail around the world!
This is the kind of keel we had to straighten in the previously mentioned speedboat.
Keel is usually not straightened…. usually they need to be replaced with new ones or significantly strengthened by changing their design. Here there was a bit of the latter, and it was exactly like this.
After removing the old bottom keel and making new ones, we pushed out the bottom with a leveller, resting it on the new bottom keel and kilson (lintel). We screwed everything solidly together and after letting go of the leveller, the keel only minimally returned to its curved form (about 1.5cm from 6-7cm originally). The mahogany lintel screwed together with all the bottoms stiffened the whole structure and looks quite good between the original grets.
