What is the proper maintenance routine for a 76 C22 in salt water.

rpludwig · Jun 4, 2020

Richie50 said:
I own a 1976 C22 swing keel. In October 2010 I purchased the boat, removed the keel, sanded all surface rust, applied rust inhibitor from Permatex, 2 coats of an oil based metal primer and two coats of ablative paint. Every year since then I have repeated the process every spring without removing the keel, while the boat was on the trailer. I leave her in the salt water marina on Long Island from May till November. Is there a better process? Can I coat the keel so I don’t get the surface rust?

sure, do what many others here have done, drop the keel, sandblast, epoxy coat & fair, then you're good to go for the long run....plenty of posts here on the process, others will chime in w/links, or do a search...pita for sure, but ultimately necessary...

rpludwig · Jun 4, 2020

Richie50 said:
I have seen this described previously but haven’t given it enough thought to now. How long would you expect this method to last assuming the keel doesn’t hit anything. Thanks

likely as long as you own the boat!

here's one of many threads of the process:

Today it gets real:

I made the rash assumption that the extremely capable sandblaster who works with the Department of Energy and the Corp of Engineers on really big stuff wouldn't give me the time of day, and then they said "sure" bring it over tomorrow we'll be done with it by lunch... gulp. Luckily the Gantry...

forums.sailboatowners.com

rpludwig · Jun 4, 2020

and another, CloudDiver's epic journey, a worthy read for all C22 owners:

Restoration of 1981 C-22 swing keel #10580

Hi Everyone, I'm Luke in San Diego, CA and I just bought hull #10580 on Sep 26th from Dana Point, formerly named "Miranda" and before that "Little Explorer" I believe... A big Thanks to Capt Don, he let me take measurements off of his trailers so I could get the bunks set up on my trailer (the...

forums.sailboatowners.com

Hardhead · Jun 4, 2020

If you're not too concerned about appearance - coal tar epoxy does a good job too. Mine's been on for several years, and it's tough stuff. You don't necessarily need to fair it, but a lot of people who go through the effort of removing the keel go that extra step.

Benny17441 · Jun 4, 2020

A boat in salt water will have significant marine growth in a couple of weeks. Make sure you exercise the keel by raising and lowering it periodically. The boat may also benefit from diving and cleaning the bottom every 3-4 weeks. It is not good to wait until November to find out the keel is stuck in the down position because of marine growth.

pclarksurf · Jun 4, 2020

Richie50 said:
How long would you expect this method to last assuming the keel doesn’t hit anything. Thanks

Heck you can even hit a few things if you must

Honestly believe the keel will outlast the boat at this point. Better than new for 1/2 the price. And @rpludwig nailed it - PITA. Likely (especially in salt ) you will never fend of the continual rust without going complete refurb or new. Cast iron is not our friend ......

rpludwig · Jun 5, 2020

to Benny's point....we have a local dive service that cleans ours 4-5x/year VERY reasonably. He charges by the minute ($2), takes 10-15 minutes to do ours....I can't bother to put my gear on for that minimal cost, I look at it like taking our car thru a good car wash and interior detail....cost is about the same, and I certainly care more about the boat than the car!
(Now I do the car, and no dive gear necessary for that job.....priorities!!!)