Coal Tar Epoxy

[Merlin Clark]

Way back when a cruiser friend barrier coated the hull and ammas of her Jim Brown tri with coal tar epoxy. Saw her a couple years later but didn't think to ask how it held up.
Has anyone here had any experience with this product? Just saw a post about coating a swing keel with West System and thought that coal tar might be a more economical option for this.

 

[svchickadee]

I have used coal tar epoxy on both an Albin Vega and Irwin 41. I followed the same procedure each time. On the Vega the bottom was ground down to the gel coat (or beyond). On the Irwin the bottom was soda blasted. Both bottoms were dry. I applied two coats of coal tar epoxy per instructions. When the last coat was still tacky I applied a coat of modified epoxy bottom paint. The bottom paint adhers to the coat tar and forms a good surface for subsequent bottom paint adhesion. I had no problems with the hulls on either boat and subsequent bottom paint applications did not flake. I considered the coal tar a final barrier coat for each boat. The coal tar remains flexible and would be difficult to remove. Both boats were on the Chesapeake Bay. I took the Irwin to the Bahamas twice.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

I've done three cast iron keels with coal tar epoxy. One done in 1998- still doing pretty well. Has rusted a bit where it got onto some oyster shells but that's all.

Used on offshore rigs. Good stuff. Stinks though while curing.

 

[Ron20324]

I stripped the keel of my B235 down to bare metal, covered with a couple coats of VC Tar i believe it was labeled. It works well, and held up, but I only had the boat 5 years after that. I liked it.

 

[WayneH]

I've done three cast iron keels with coal tar epoxy. One done in 1998- still doing pretty well. Has rusted a bit where it got onto some oyster shells but that's all.

Used on offshore rigs. Good stuff. Stinks though while curing.

OH, good. I was hoping you'd chime in. I knew my boat keel was done with coal tar but didn't know how far back it was done.

 

[Merlin Clark]

Great reviews. Thanks all.

 

[Charlie Jones s/v Tehani]

OH, good. I was hoping you'd chime in. I knew my boat keel was done with coal tar but didn't know how far back it was done.

Yep- still got almost a half gallon left too

Merry Christmas to you and your "girl friend" - heading out in a minute to visit my mother

 

[alain croteau]

Used VC Tar - 2 coats on a Douglas 32 (fbrglass boat) 25yrs ago applications of VC 17 antifouling every 2yrs. Still holding up fine. Boat is in the Great Lakes so fresh water for those 25 yrs.

 

[soldier1964]

that is good to know cause I was wondering what I could do. now I have a good idea. SBO and all of you are my best gifts this year. happy holidays to you all.....

 

[capta]

Back in the 60's we used coal tar epoxy as a barrier coat between the steel and subsequent paints. It pretty much negated electrolysis, being inert and without scraping it off on something you really didn't want to hit anyway, we'd get 8 to 10 years of protection.
I can't understand why you would want to use it on fiberglass, unless you are doing the keel as some above are. Aren't there preferable barrier coats out there these days for glass boats?

 

[Merlin Clark]

There are plenty of barrier coatings offered by the yacht paint suppliers but sometimes it's just fun to see what we can do to work around those prices. For instance, Krylon sells 3 gallons of coal tar for 97 bucks.
I found this site a few minutes ago http://www.aeromarineproducts.com/?gclid=COOhvYDMsbQCFQsGnQod4gMA2Q and 99 bucks for a 1 1/2 gallon kit of epoxy resin with pumps is pretty sweet. I love my West System but for half price I'd have to give it a try.