My swing keel fiberglass covering has met its end. I have completely removed it and am now thinking of my options for recovering it. Has anyone tried alternates to fiberglass such as some of the "bedliner products" or something of that nature? I would to here what other owners have done
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It might be worth
Im an experimenter and the bedliner idea may have merit. You can buy kits to put it on with and it would be a plastic kind of coating. I know my fiberglass that I did a few years back is showing signs of wear now. I thought next time I would just strip the glass off and re rust proof it and epoxy over the whole thing. I dont know yet. the bed liner product might seal it in good. Anyone with further thoughts.
Im an experimenter and the bedliner idea may have merit. You can buy kits to put it on with and it would be a plastic kind of coating. I know my fiberglass that I did a few years back is showing signs of wear now. I thought next time I would just strip the glass off and re rust proof it and epoxy over the whole thing. I dont know yet. the bed liner product might seal it in good. Anyone with further thoughts.
Adherence ?
Adherence is the key. It sounds really great, I just don't know how water proof this stuff is. I believe it's a polyurethane mixture and should adhere to iron pretty well. I wonder if there is a primer that would improve adherence here. I think it's worth a shot. Can you afford to test it on something first? I mean try it on your rudder for a season, maybe just the tip etc. I thik shrouding in epoxy is the best bet I know of but I like the bedliner test. Steve P.
Adherence is the key. It sounds really great, I just don't know how water proof this stuff is. I believe it's a polyurethane mixture and should adhere to iron pretty well. I wonder if there is a primer that would improve adherence here. I think it's worth a shot. Can you afford to test it on something first? I mean try it on your rudder for a season, maybe just the tip etc. I thik shrouding in epoxy is the best bet I know of but I like the bedliner test. Steve P.
Keel coating
Wish I had photos, but didn't have a digital camera then. Mine didn't have any fiberglass on it when I got her. I removed the keel and had it sandblasted. I faired it out with lead. My first coat for primer was that zinc spray paint. At that time I could get it at the local hardware store, I believe West Marine and Boaters World still carry it for painting trailers. I then primed it with rustoleum red primer. I then applied 2 coats of flat rustoleum fallowed with 2 coats of rustoleum gloss. The flat enamel paints have better adherence, the gloss paints are more water proof. Covered that with VC tar and bottom paint. Did that 5 years ago, and it's still good. I have rebottom painted since, but that's normal. I think the barrier coat was the most important coating put on, but this has worked well for me. However, my boat sits in Lake Michigan for only about 20 weeks a year. Salt water would be much harder on the keel.
Wish I had photos, but didn't have a digital camera then. Mine didn't have any fiberglass on it when I got her. I removed the keel and had it sandblasted. I faired it out with lead. My first coat for primer was that zinc spray paint. At that time I could get it at the local hardware store, I believe West Marine and Boaters World still carry it for painting trailers. I then primed it with rustoleum red primer. I then applied 2 coats of flat rustoleum fallowed with 2 coats of rustoleum gloss. The flat enamel paints have better adherence, the gloss paints are more water proof. Covered that with VC tar and bottom paint. Did that 5 years ago, and it's still good. I have rebottom painted since, but that's normal. I think the barrier coat was the most important coating put on, but this has worked well for me. However, my boat sits in Lake Michigan for only about 20 weeks a year. Salt water would be much harder on the keel.
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