H28.5 Keel Care

[Warren M.]

I know there has been a lot written about how to prep and paint the iron keel on a Hunter 28.5. Most people seem to suggest sanding the inevitable rust and painting with bottom paint each spring, a process that makes a lot of sense to me. Yet I see that Don Casey, of "This Old Boat" fame, states that iron keels should NOT be painted with copper based bottom paints. He goes on to state that these iron keels should be sand blasted and barrier coated and then bottom painted. The surveyor who surveyed my recently purchased 1986 Hunter 28.5 specifically told me NOT to barrier coat the iron keel as he said that would eventually lead to even more headaches. He said that groundings or scraping the keel on debris, etc., would probably cause a breach in the barrier coat that would allow water to wick its way under the barrier coat creating a real mess that could result in a LOT more work getting the barrier coat off and starting all over again. His view was that minor rust-through was not a problem, sand it, paint it, and go sailing....Any thoughts?

 

[Darrel]

Ospo

I had a H23 with an iron keel. Only thing I did with the keel was sand it, clean it, coat it with Ospo (spelling?) then use the same bottom paint as the rest of the bottom. That was it. For information, Ospo is a rust naturalizer and is a good prep for this project.Maybe others have used Ospo as well and can provide more input.

 

[Daryl]

Rust Never Sleeps

I have more experience with rusty Hunter keels than I would like to admit. I've talked to Hunter reps., paint suppliers and tried many products. Initially I attacked the keel with a power grinder and heavy wire wheel to remove the visible rust. Immediately after I coated the iron with 4-5 coats of VC Epoxy Tar (and bottom paint). Rust was back in 3 years of fresh water lake sailing.I repeated the grinding and painted the iron with Petit Rustlok and bottom paint. Rust was back 2 years later.My third method was to rent a large air compressor and sandblaster. I blasted the keel bown to bright clean metal and coated it with West epoxy within one hour. I added several coats of epoxy and some light fiberglass cloth and mat. Then I put on bottom paint. So far it seems OK. Couldn't afford to pay the yard to do that work with my Hunter budget.Basically it's a waste of time because the rust is cosmetic and you won't see it in the water. If I had to do it again I'd wait and cover the rust with wet sloppy bottom paint right before I sold it.