Keel Bottom Paint Prep

[jpallen01]

Hi - I've attached a picture of the keel of a boat I'm restoring. It's a 1977 Santana 525. The keel is lead wrapped with fiberglass. As you can see from the picture the gelcoat is worn completely off in some places. My question is what is the best way to make this right? I'm thinking a fairing compound so I can build it up and make sure the shape is correct, then as with the rest of the boat an epoxy bottom paint (like Interlux 2000e) then my antifouling paint. Are there any other suggestions? The hull has some smaller areas where the gelcoat is worn too but I don't think they are cause for concern.

 

[bffatcat]

keel repairs

last fall large sections of the gelcoat covering the cast Iron keel my 1975 pearson 26 began to fall off here is what I did. I scraped everything off down to the bare cast Iron. Next I put 2 coats of pettit rust inhibitor on the bare keel followed by 2 coats of west system epoxy.
I recently had the keel inspected by a diver everything looks ok. Im not saying you should do exactly what I did. You have a lead keel definitely an advantage over cast Iron you might start by grinding any loose stuff off. putting a lead sealant over the area in question and finishing off with epoxy good luck

 

[DougM]

I did the iron keel on my Beneteau 323 in May. I ground the entire coating off, cleaned it with acetic acid, then refinished with Interprotect 2000 (multiple coats) followed by 2 coats of VC17. Not an easy job. If I had it to do over again, I would probably pay someone else to do it.

 

[Chris Patterson]

Re: Keel Bottom Pain Prep

Your plan of action would be exactly what I would do. And have done in the past. Recently. Successfully.

 

[Richard Bryer]

A job that is all to recent in my mind!. I just finished the iron keel and the bottom of our H34. The keel needed work and I decided that seeing as the boat was out, I would do the whole bottom.
I stripped the keel with a needle scaler, which got most of the rust and old fairing off. The only thing it wouldn't budge was the POR15 I put in places 3 years ago! After the needle scaler I went over it with one of those impregnated fiber wheels that they use to strip auto paint. Dusty job. Then I coated it with an industrial rust converter ( probably phosphoric acid based. Then I put one coat of Interlux 2000 on. Faired it, then put 4 more coats on. The hull got 4 coats also, after striping the VC tar with a heat gun and scraper- the part I paid someone else to do. Then compounded and polished and waxed the topsides, painted new bottom stripe, put new name on stern ( same name, new letters) and a coat of VC17. Here is what it looked like at launch Aug1.

 

[jpallen01]

Thank you all for your suggestions and sharing. I recall the last boat I did this for and made sure I did it right so I wouldn't have to do it again. I guess at the time I didn't think I'd have a different boat that I would have to do it for! My arms are like jelly. Good advice from all. Thank you.

 

[jpallen01]

well done!