Keel and fiberglass shell

[Steph98]

Hello,

Do you know if it's normal there is space between the keel and the fiberglass shell that surround it?
I have a Pearson 365. I'm at the fairing and tapping at the keel sounded hollow in places. I drilled a few small holes in the fiber. On the first, there was an air call. On the second, a little lower, water flowed, perhaps 1 gallon. It's not seawater, and it's clear. Maybe it's been condensation for 47 years...?
So I wonder is the fact that the hull is not glued to the keel original? Should I fill these spaces with epoxy resin or leave as is? Filling these spaces may provide unintended rigidity to the design.
Are there any keel bolts?

Thanks for your answers.

Stéphane

[Dale Tanski]

Yes there are places in the keel that will sound hollow.  The keel is encapsulated, meaning the keel ballast is lowered into the fiberglass keel cavity and then glassed into place over top to secure it.  There is no need for keel bolts as the ballast is placed into the hull form... encapsulated. 

The advantages are there are no keel bolts to corrode or tear out during a grounding.  The ballast lead is not exposed to the water where often impurities in the lead will often corrode. The lead does need to be faired and the fairing maintained.  There is no keel to bilge joint that often leaks over time.
I am not sure where the water came from in your boat.  Condensation is a good thought.  I am not sure how you would insert epoxy to fill the voids unless you drilled and tapped some grease zerk fittings into the fiberglass at the hollow spots and pumped in thickened epoxy with a grease gun. The issue would be if something goes in something has to go out (vent).

I look at it this way, it was designed and built that way and has been that way for over 40 years.  Unless the trapped water froze and there was no where for it to go there shouldn't be a problem.

Dale

[Steph98]

Thank you Dale, for your answer which helps me a lot.
I won't fill the cavities. I agree with you, it's worked like this for over 40 years, so I'll let it. This is truly a well designed boat! I will plug the holes and put in fiber patches and I will try to create a new vacuum before plugging the last hole (after the first hole I heard no more call of air).

Thanks.

Stéphane