Saunterer gives up her secrets – Part 6 – Analysis of the keelbolts after removal
Date: 14th October, 2015The picture below shows 9 keel bolts on the workbench after their removal from the ballast keel – out of the 10 bolts that fastened the lead ballast keel onto the elm keel running along the deepest part of the hull. Two are intact, and at least three broke on removal – which means that some (perhaps a third) had given way in situ which might have resulted in some flex in the ballast keel when healed over – putting greater strain on the remaining bolts.
The picture below shows the condition of a broken section of a keel bolt, where the process of oxidisation has weakened the metal to the point where is loses its strength and breaks.
The two pictures below illustrate how soft the oxidised middle section of the bronze bolt is – as it easily marked by light blows from a hammer, while the bolt ends are noticeably harder showing smaller marks from the same impact.
The process of bronze oxidisation takes many decades – and while it is thought from records that some of the bolts were drawn and tested in the 1970s (when Saunterer was last listed as Lloyds A1) we think that some of the keel bolts may never have been removed at all since launch in 1900 due to various reasons, and this view may be supported by the fixing round the bolt heads shown the picture below which was we believe typical of the period when Saunterer was launched.
The “bottom line” is that this part of her restoration was, as we thought, a necessary and vital exercise, and may as it happens have been done at exactly the right time – later could have been too late.
The Project Team – October 2015
