Andrei, I have a Montgomery 23 which had the same separation between the inner liner of the keel trunk cavity and the edge of the keel slot in the shoal draft keel. I've seen this same deal in a number of older Montys, now. I believe that in my case this allowed water to infiltrate into the ballast cavity of the shoal draft keel, just as you were wondering about. In my case, my boat had steel ballast and this in turn caused the rusting process to start (that's another whole story). I repaired the separation by drying it out and cleaning the gap, sanding it, filling it with thickened epoxy resin, and then putting 3 or 4 layers of fiberglass and epoxy over it. There are pictures of the repair on my site which Bill already gave the address of. (_www.havasumontgomerys.piczo.com_ (http://www.havasumontgomerys.piczo.com) ) Go to the "repairs" section and look for the keel rebuild page. In order to get access to the entire slot the swing keel will have to be removed. I agree with the other guys that $3500 is pretty steep. Geez, I sold my old M17 for $4500 and it was in decent shape. I have heard good things about the work that Hoopers does. Another M23 owner, Theo Petron, had Hoopers repair his 23's keel problems. Good luck. Sean M23 "Dauntless" _www.havasumontgomerys.piczo.com_ (http://www.havasumontgomerys.piczo.com) **************Looking for simple solutions to your real-life financial challenges? Check out WalletPop for the latest news and information, tips and calculators. (http://www.walletpop.com/?NCID=emlcntuswall00000001)