Wondering what the best solution for filling the void left from the coating flaking off the lead wing keel. Something like Interlux watertite epoxy filler or just gel coat? Any suggestions appreciated as I have a launch date in a week.
Coating flaking on lead wing keel
- Thread starter Ken Honeycutt
- Start date
If it were my own wing keel I would probably clean and sand it. Would consider spraying it with epoxy paint and then cover with ablative paint. Havn't had to do it but someone probably has and will comment on this. Chief
I had the same problem with my keel. I took it all the way down to metal. Then I put POR15 on it. Then I filled with Marine Tec and sanded smooth applied two coats of barrier coat then bottom paint. It has been with out any problems for three years now.
Mine got dinged by the yard while blocking for the winter season a couple of years ago. Here is what I did:
--Sanded away the bottom paint about a 1/4" beyond the repair area to expose the gelcoat.
--Sanded the exposed gelcoat lightly with 80 grit. clean with Acetone or equivalant
--When I was ready to do the job sanded the exposed lead until shiny, wiped down with Acetone then quickly painted on a thin coat of unthickened epoxy (I used West).
--Let the resin kick but not cure, about 20 minutes, then applied some thickened epoxy to fair the area. Once fully cured, lightly sanded. Applied bottom paint as usual.
The key is get the exposed lead as clean as possible and not let any contamination get in the damaged area.
Very straightforward. Hope this helps....
--Sanded away the bottom paint about a 1/4" beyond the repair area to expose the gelcoat.
--Sanded the exposed gelcoat lightly with 80 grit. clean with Acetone or equivalant
--When I was ready to do the job sanded the exposed lead until shiny, wiped down with Acetone then quickly painted on a thin coat of unthickened epoxy (I used West).
--Let the resin kick but not cure, about 20 minutes, then applied some thickened epoxy to fair the area. Once fully cured, lightly sanded. Applied bottom paint as usual.
The key is get the exposed lead as clean as possible and not let any contamination get in the damaged area.
Very straightforward. Hope this helps....
I have a 2004 AC41 with a lead wing keel, and there is only bottom paint on it. If it is lead, why would it need to be encapsulated? It does not rust.
Thanks for the quick responses! I think I'll try the West Systems epoxy route that Solstice recommends since I've got some left over from another project.
Ice, I'm not sure why it was encapsulated but that's the way it came from Hunter. Until this happened I thought it was just bottom painted lead.
(Now that I think about it, it may be encapsulated because the wing is lead but the rest of the keel is cast iron - so Hunter just encapsulated the whole keel.)
Ice, I'm not sure why it was encapsulated but that's the way it came from Hunter. Until this happened I thought it was just bottom painted lead.
(Now that I think about it, it may be encapsulated because the wing is lead but the rest of the keel is cast iron - so Hunter just encapsulated the whole keel.)
Lead Keel
Hi Ken, never heard of Hunter blending lead and iron together on their keels. It was either all lead or all iron. To your point, on our boat all I do is scrape off any loose bottom paint, sand and fair the edges, and apply three fresh coats of ablative bottom paint. I suppose you can cover it with epoxy, but the bottom paint works for us.
As mentioned in earlier posts, it's lead.
Hi Ken, never heard of Hunter blending lead and iron together on their keels. It was either all lead or all iron. To your point, on our boat all I do is scrape off any loose bottom paint, sand and fair the edges, and apply three fresh coats of ablative bottom paint. I suppose you can cover it with epoxy, but the bottom paint works for us.
As mentioned in earlier posts, it's lead.
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So now I'm a little confused. When I scraped some of the loose epoxy or whatever off the wing I scratched the metal to see if was indeed iron or lead. It seemed to me to be lead since it was easily scratched, soft and shiny like lead. I thought this Hunter came with a cast iron keel so that's where I came up with the idea that it was a combination of both (lead wing attached to the rest of the cast iron keel since there seems to be a joint between the wing and the rest of the keel). SO, maybe this boat somehow slipped through Hunter and came with a lead keel even though I thought Hunter had gone to cast iron for this year.
Lead Keel
Hi Ken, if your boat is similar to ours, a bulb wing keel, you can scrape away on the bulb and tell that is either lead or iron. Ours is all lead. Odds are yours is all lead, too. Our 1989 H28 had an all lead bulb wing keel, too. The keel stub where the two join will be FRP.
Hi Ken, if your boat is similar to ours, a bulb wing keel, you can scrape away on the bulb and tell that is either lead or iron. Ours is all lead. Odds are yours is all lead, too. Our 1989 H28 had an all lead bulb wing keel, too. The keel stub where the two join will be FRP.
Chief is right--lead does oxidize, which is why all builders of lead keels will encapsulate in some way. Also why it's important to get it coated as soon as you sand and expose shiny lead...