Inside a pair of keels

I got an email from Thomas Swenson with some really interesting pictures from the inside of his Alacrity's keels. Here is his email:

> Hi Jens. Hope your having a good new year. I have
> been sanding my hull and keels. I found the inside
> of the keels are bulged outward and sound hollow.
> they have been dripping water since I brought it
> home. I made a boat stand for it and got it off the
> trailer. I drilled holes in the keels to let the
> water drain out. There was a lot of water in them. I
> think the water freezing made the bulges, so I cut
> large holes were the hollow sounds are. I thought
> the ballast was made of lead, but it seems although
> this is some lead there is also peaces of metal and
> copper pipes. Is this the way it should be? Should
> the inside of the keels be flat? I will try to send
> pictures so you can see what I'm talking about. Any
> advice you can give would be deeply appreciated.
> Tom

And here are the pics:









2006-01-22 Thomas sent me this update:

> Hi Jens. Doing more keel work, I found the pipes
> that I had thought were copper are lead. Some still
> had water in them. The dark gray area in the second
> picture is metal pieces that are wet and corroding.
> I plan to replace them with lead and seal it back in
> the keel . that's that's all still in the planning ,
> but I had to empty the keel to dry it out. The
> outside skin of the keel may need to be removed to
> make it straight. It has a slight bow in it. I'm not
> sure if it should be there?