Keel Blister Repair

Apr 12, 2015
3
Ranger 23 Duluth, MN
Hi all, this is my first post. I recently came into ownership of a decent Ranger 23. I've sailed her in the past and couldn't pass on such a good opportunity. I've been told the blemish on the cast iron keel is easily fixed. I was told to scrape away the scaling, grind smooth, then apply unthickened epoxy. Then rough with a wire brush and apply thickened epoxy, sand fair, and paint. Is this an over simplified description of a really tough project? I hope to have her in the water by June at the latest. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance.
 

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PaulK

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Dec 1, 2009
1,522
Sabre 402 Southport, CT
What you were told is pretty much it. It might take two days or so because you want the epoxy (both the unthickened and the thickened) to kick off for 24 hours to make sure it's done. The tough part is usually figuring out how much chipping and scraping to do. Actual work time might be about four hours: 1 hour scraping/grinding, twenty minutes to mix & apply epoxy, forty minutes to mix & apply thickened epoxy (make sure it's not sagging or running - it needs to be pretty thick!), an hour to sand & fair, and twenty minutes to paint over. Done it lots. Use epoxy paint over the top of the repair (and a bit beyond) to keep moisture from seeping in around the edges.
 
Jan 1, 2006
7,992
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
I don't think the Ranger 23 has an iron keel, and the pictures don't look like an iron keel, but the treatment is similar but maybe not as critical.
Congrats on the purchase of one of my fav pocket cruisers. Gary Mull pedigree plus a boat which sails in light air and can take a breeze. Google Arvel Gentry for more info than you need about this boat but you probably know all that.
Great boat - have a great time. As you may guess I'm a Ranger fan.
 
Sep 29, 2008
1,976
Catalina 310 #185 Quantico
That keel looks like lead

The whitish stuff tells me it is lead and not iron. You need to :dance:.

My 310 had a similar thing happen. Concur with PaulK and Shemandr.
 
Apr 12, 2015
3
Ranger 23 Duluth, MN
Thank you all. That makes sense, lead is more likely, and I appreciate the reassurance that this is manageable and that I'll be sailing in about a month.
 
Apr 12, 2015
3
Ranger 23 Duluth, MN
What you were told is pretty much it. It might take two days or so because you want the epoxy (both the unthickened and the thickened) to kick off for 24 hours to make sure it's done. The tough part is usually figuring out how much chipping and scraping to do. Actual work time might be about four hours: 1 hour scraping/grinding, twenty minutes to mix & apply epoxy, forty minutes to mix & apply thickened epoxy (make sure it's not sagging or running - it needs to be pretty thick!), an hour to sand & fair, and twenty minutes to paint over. Done it lots. Use epoxy paint over the top of the repair (and a bit beyond) to keep moisture from seeping in around the edges.
So, sorry to drag this out, but I'm getting less reassurance from the locals on one aspect of my repairs. As you can see, I have done the grinding, and found more hollow spots than I expected. Not worried about that, but the seam between the hull and the keel was a mess and full of caulk. So I sanded. The boat yard service guys said "You want caulk in there". But I'm pretty sure water was getting in that way and messing up the keel shell. My new BIG question, if I caulk the seam, can I epoxy/thickened with the rest, perhaps with a length of fiberglass tape, or am I in the weeds?

See new pics. Thanks for your help and patience.
 

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Sep 8, 2014
2,551
Catalina 22 Swing Keel San Diego
No Fiberglass tape needed;

Finish grinding the area of just the caulk seam all the way around the keel seam, make sure all the bad caulk is cleaned out. Before you re-fair and re-paint the rest of the grind spots you want to re-caulk that seam with 5200.
Pick a quart of Denatured Alcohol and clean rags. Use this to liberally clean the areas you have ground down. This also cleans epoxy off your hands and tools.

Use 2 inch wide painters tape to protect all the areas around just the caulk line. Put a nice thick bead of 5200 in the caulk line. Careful with this stuff, its nasty and sticky. have a couple 1 inch or so wide plastic putty knives to help get it where it needs to go. Only slightly overfill the area, no need to go crazy. Once this stuff is dry (and it takes several days) it can be sanded fair and painted over. You do not need to epoxy over it, but when you apply the fairing compound on the rest of the keel it wont hurt anything if some gets on there and ends up getting sanded.

You will probably only need one quart of epoxy and one can of fast cure hardener (I like West System because the pumps make mixing easy). You'll need one can of the 407 fairing filler.

When you brush on the first coat of un-thickened epoxy you don't have to leave it set to full cure and then wire brush it. Use a heat gun to accelerate the cure just don't boil it. When it is dry to the touch but you can still push your fingernail into it then you can mix up and apply the epoxy thickened with fairing filler. The strongest bond of epoxy to epoxy is a chemical bond, and you accomplish that by adding on the next coat before the first is fully cured and amine blush has not yet formed. Apply the fairing compound with a wide plastic knife and let cure overnight.

Now you can sand smooth with an orbital, start at 80 grit and get it close. I like to take a 120 grit sanding belt and cut it, then staple it to flat board to make my own long board. Finish out your shape... If you feathered your grinds, which it appears you did from the pics, match the level of fairing filler to the old fairing filler, which will still be lower than the old paint.

Use a quart size kit of Interprotect 2000 Epoxy Primer, only mix 1/2 can at a time. Apply with a 1/4" nap roller. It will be thick and have orange peel texture, don't worry about it! Let that dry until touch dry but you can still leave a fingerprint in it. Mix up the second half of the can and apply. You should be rolling over your faired repair area, the sanded 5200 seam, and slightly over the edge of the existing bottom paint edge around the repair. After the second coat let dry overnight.
Use your long sanding board and sand the orange peel texture of the Interprotect. It shouldn't take much sanding to get the orange peel texture down smooth and any over lap onto the old bottom paint will come off, leaving a very smooth and fair transition from repair area to old bottom paint.

Give a good once over with 80 grit on the whole keel, blow off the dust and wipe down with a tack cloth. Using a foam roller apply two coats to just the repair areas, a little overlap is ok. Not sure what paint you are using but most are touch dry within 30 minutes or less depending on temps/humidity. After the first two coats then put another two coats on the entire keel.

You should end up with a smooth repair where you won't see any seams at all.
 
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