I noticed some wear on the keel of my boat, its only on the keel and looks like the gelcoat has worn down some and I can see the fiberglass, it must have been there awhile its been there awhile as it is worn smooth. Its only on the very bottom and stops once the bow starts to turn up. The boat is 30 years old so I'm not looking to pour money into it unless absolutely nessecary. So I'm wondering if this sort of thing is normal and if it will cause any structural problems in the future.




Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

To prevent any further wear you should consider installing a "keel guard". You can do it yourself. All the outdoors stores have them, i.e. Academy, Cabellas, BPS, etc...
As far as structural damage, if you are really concerned take it to someone with experience. North Texas Fiberglass in Denton is mentioned frequently on TFF.

Sounds like the '68 KingFisher I used to have. Mine never leaked but that isn't to say yours won't leak. If it did start it would prolbably be a drip at first.

It would be a wise thing to take it to NTFiberglass for evulation and repair. I have a Hamby's Keel Protector on my present boat and will never be without one. I beach it on a concrete loading ramp to load my partner with no damage to the boat.

Keel Guard is the best solution. Save the keel.

Water will soak into exposed fiberglass and eventually the glass will delaminate causing a weak area and seperation of the glass. Call Micahel at North Texas Fiberglass and ask his opinion. He will probably need to look at it to evaluate what you need to do, if anything. Once you have corrected the problem, put a keel guard on it. Best insurance you can get for your keel. I have beached mine on concrete ramps before as well and the keel guard does it's job of protecting the keel. Do call Michael though, he is a great guy and knows his stuff. www.northtexasfiberglass.com

I would follow the advice given to have it looked at,repaired,and get a keel guard. The cause needs to be found to prevent it from continuing.
It appears to me that your front (or second)trailer crossmember may be scraping the keel when unloading and loading. The front of the keel will drop low between the support blocks (because of the vee at the front)until the boat is fully on the trailer.Several things cause this to happen,ramp angles,how far you back into the water when you unload and load. Next time you load/unload have someone watch the keel at the crossmembers. This problem can be fixed by bolting on more rollers.

LOL. Hope you get things fixed

BTM

Prater - It looks like you might have some other areas on the hull that need addressing. It's your call but, if it were my boat I would have it looked at by someone in the fiberglass business if I were going to keep it and with the price of new boats, that wouldn't be a hard decision.

I use marine-tex, West Marine has it, maybe BPS, this stuff...
http://www.marinetex.com/PRODUCT%20PAGE_files/All%20MarineTex%20Putty/marinetex%20prod%20info.htm

good stuff, easy to work with...its a pretty thick fiberglass putty - mix it up, apply it, sand it smooth, makes a permanent repair.

Actually I think this problem just occurred from the previous owner beaching it a few too many times.

The hull seems to be in good shape otherwise care to explain what you mean throwback?

Just saw your PM - In the lower left hand portion of the picture there appears to be a place where the gel coat has been breached. It could be something else but, from the picture it appears that way.

A Hamby's Keel Protector should fix you right up. It will also help repair the fiberglass when it is installed since the Hamby's is actually Fiberglassed on the boat rather than taped on.

Yes, first get it repaired then put the Keel guard in to affect.