iron keels

[James melvin]

what would be the best treatment for a rusty iron keel posibly galinizeing paints before epoxy and bottom paint i need a plan of attack wouid galvanize paint help i purchased a neglected boat

 

[Doug]

Rusty Keel

The best approach is to sand blast, apply an epoxy barrier coat, and then apply bottom paint. A less expensive approach is to scrape and clean the rusty areas, apply a zinc primer, and then apply bottom paint.I owned a 34 for 16 years. I used the zinc approach during most of that time and tried epoxy during the last season (can't report results). You can count on the rust re-appearing with zinc (and propably with epoxy) but re-applying is simply part of the bottom job.Good luck!Dougs/v TenaciousH376

 

[PJ]

Been there

Did a bottom job (took off the bottom paint down to the hull & cast iron) in 95. You do not need to sand blast the keel if you have a grinder. One with changeable disc pads will work. Wear coveralls, protective eyewear & breathing filter mask. As soon as you have finished one side spray on a zinc primer. If it takes you longer than a day to grind off the rose buds from a side then don't spray, but then the next day go back with the grinder to dust off the surface rust. The surface rust will appear in less than 24 hours.Do one side at a time. After spraying then seal & shape with West systems epoxie. Give them a call, they are extremely helpfull. i get an occasional spot where I smooth sanded the epoxy to much and obviously took it back to the iron. After the epoxiy shaping I sealed with Interlux 2000 & botom painted with VC 17. We race in Lake Michigan. The keel shaping part is a lot of work but if all you are doing is removing rust & sealing the bottom its not a bog job. Talk to Interlux as ther is a short cut to eliminating the sanding between the 2000 coats. Get the boat set up for applieing the 2000 sealer and start on a friday night or saturday morning, pending the temperatur condition. Apply the next coat just befor the previous coat hardens, (just past tacky). Every 6 to 10-12 hours you will be putting the next coat on & can be done in 1 weekend. Then sand and put on the VC17.Good luck.PJ

 

[Chris]

Don't punish yourself

I too purchased a used 34 seven years ago. The first year I just spot sanded primed and painted, but the next season it was obvious I needed a better solution. I spent about an hour with my grinder one day and had about a 2 square foot area cleaned and ready for primer. After some quick math I went to my marina office and asked them to sandblast the keel for me. For about 160 dollars they sandblasted just the keel, money well spent they did a better job than I could have and save me many hours of labor. I immediately primed it with "Trailer Coat" grey primer. I then faired it out smooth with West system, and applied 4 coats of barrier coat before bottom painting. For the last six years I continue to be amazed at how good the keel looks every fall I was told by several people it would last about 3 years. This year I will do a little bit of touch up on the bottom of the keel from when we touched bottom last year and thats it. Don't punish yourself, hire someone to sandblast just the keel, make sure they protect the fiberglass around the keel and schedule it so you can dust it off and apply the primer immediately. I highly recommend "Trailer Coat" it is cheaper and more effective than other primers I have tried.