Down to lead on deep fin keel

[Garry Elmer]

Over the past few years more and more of the gelcoat and such have been flaking off of the deep fin keel on out 1980 33. I have tried several "marine" preparations and primers and they are worthless. On the front of the keel I have found that Duro's Fiberglass Jelly automotive stuff to hold like iron but you have to use it with fiberglass cloth as it is not a filler. Has anyone had a similar problem and found a "one time" solution for the sides of the keel? I ground down the loose gelcoat and have a lot of lead exposed.Thanks!Garryhttp://www.99main.com/~elmergw/

 

[Bill O'Donovan]

Try this

Interlux makes a 7-to-1 primer for metal bases that works well. My keel has yet to flake after three years. The key is that you have to be prepared to do the paint job within 24 hours.

 

[David Undewood]

Not sure thats gelcoat...

Garry,I'm not too sure that Hunter used gelcoat in that area, maybe they did, maybe they used some type of epoxy based product that is for fairing the lead keels... if I am not mistaken, seems like it was a white compound they used, simular to marine tex.. a white epoxy type filler/patch. Anyway, I did some fairing of my own and I used a fairing compound which is still there after several years. I faired my hull/keel joint a little smoother than Hunter did, and it really seems to make a difference in speed also. Good luck, I hear epoxy sticks to anything and holds up well under water.

 

[Sam Lust]

33 keel work

The keel on my 33 was just awful. The surface was rough and uneven, the keel to hull joint looked like they did it with a hatchet, and there were good size voids in the keel metal itself that still held mold sand. My feeling has been that my keel was a reject and was only used to get one last 33 off the floor to make way for 34 production. The white material covering the keel was coming off in places much like yours. I still haven't figured out what it is.I was barrier coating the hull last winter and according to the information fromm Interlux the barrier coat makes a good prime/protector coat on metal. A major portion of that project was fairing the keel. All the loose gel/filler coating was peeled/scraped off. Exposed metal was roughed up and coated with filled epoxy compound. Several coats with lots of grinding and sanding in between. The fairing job and any remaining exposed metal were then covered with Interlux barrier coat, sprayed on to about .015", and topped with Interlux Micron ablative.While it's certainly not a long term test yet, the fairing and bottom job show no signs of problems after a season. Preparation and epoxy seem to be the hot set-up here as epoxy seems to have the greatest adhesive qualities to the greatest number of materials.

 

[Tim Schaaf]

I second Sam

Unlike Sam's keel, mine was nicely done, but the coating did peel. So did the epoxy patch job done by the boatyard. However, in an echo of Sam's experience, when I did an Interlux blister job some seven and a half years ago, I had the keel sandblasted and then ground to bare metal. I very carefully faired it, using the Interlux filler, and then barrier coated it with Interlux 2000 epoxy, along with the rest of the hull. It has worked perfectly, not a hint of peeling. I used an ablative bottom paint back then, but have had better results using an ablative on the hull, and Trinidad on the keel and rudder, which is what I do now. Good luck

 

[Dave Johndrow]

Same as Sam

I bought a my 1982 H33 13 years ago and my keel looked just as Sam discribed his. I ground it down to bare lead. put on two coats of the Interlux barrier, faired it out recoated and painted. That was done thirteen years ago and other than bottom paint, I haven't touched it.