How do you paint the bottom of the keel?

[robertsapp]

We've had our H336 almost a year, and before long we're going to need to do a bottom job. So here's my question. When the yard hauls and blocks the boat, the keel bulb ends up sitting on blocks, with various stands supporting the boat. I can see how you could prep and paint everything accessible, and then shift the stands to get to the areas that were under the pads originally. But what do you do about the bottom of the keel bulb? We were thinking about eventually trying Coppercoat, which is an epoxy product that takes 24 hours to cure. We can't leave the boat hanging in a travel lift for that long. Do you just slap some paint on there while the boat is in the slings and hope it dries enough before it hits the water?

 

[Buck420]

We've had our H336 almost a year, and before long we're going to need to do a bottom job. So here's my question. When the yard hauls and blocks the boat, the keel bulb ends up sitting on blocks, with various stands supporting the boat. I can see how you could prep and paint everything accessible, and then shift the stands to get to the areas that were under the pads originally. But what do you do about the bottom of the keel bulb? We were thinking about eventually trying Coppercoat, which is an epoxy product that takes 24 hours to cure. We can't leave the boat hanging in a travel lift for that long. Do you just slap some paint on there while the boat is in the slings and hope it dries enough before it hits the water?

Essentially, Yes.

I have 2, 3` pieces of 4x4 that I get the yard to put under the bulb, ( on their larger wooden blocks) when they set the boat down.
By doing so, at least I can paint a bit more of the under side of the (bulb) keel than if they just set it onto their large wood keel blocks. The last ~ 4" "stripes" on the underside of the keel have to be painted while the boat is in the slings. But since the paint SHOULD have ~24hrs to cure, those areas painted while in the slings tend not to stay painted very long, hence the attempt to minimize the amount painted "in the slings".

 

[Alan]

When I do mine I have the yard put blocks under the center third of the keel bottom leaving the front and rear sections open. When it's time to paint I do the two end sections and give it time to harden. Then using a 10 ton hydraulic jack I raise the boat from the front section a few inches till the blocks come free and block the front section. Repeat for the rear section of keel. Reset the stations and paint the remaining unpainted keel bottom.

 

[Don12364]

The simple answer to your question is "On my back".
But joking aside I have found the guys who operate travel lifts are familiar with this situation and, if you make a prior arrangement you can often be the last lift of the day and they will leave you in the slings overnight. Though the epoxy in the Coppercoat will not have fully cured, it should be hard enough by the following morning to put the boat in a cradle with the keel on a couple of blocks.

 

[Sailgunner]

Don't. We use a trailer so there is no way to get all of the area under the keel - so I don't. No big deal - it is the keel.

 

[Brian M H23]

The bottom of the keel is the easiest part of the boat to clean the scum off - just use the seafloor?

 

[robertsapp]

The bottom of the keel is the easiest part of the boat to clean the scum off - just use the seafloor?

Lord knows we do that often enough. We draw five feet, and we have to cross a bar to enter our marina that is 4.5 feet at low tide. I guess we rub bottom and have to back off and try again at least once a month!