Keel Painting Question

[Bill Bowman]

Question: A friend and I have just acquired a 1986 Hunter 23 with a winged keel. The boat has been trailered a lot and does not have any regular bottom paint. It is in great condition except for the keel. It needs "covering". The current paint is flaking and the keel is rusty. We plan on doing a full bottom paint next spring. We would like to do what is needed to get the boat in the water as soon as possible.  What should we do with the keel? Scrape and paint? What kind of paint? Or Bite the bullet and do the bottom job this year? We both have a little bit of sailing experience, but not with our own boat and not much experience on boat specific maintenance. Thanks for any replies. Bill Bowman, Muskegon, Michigan Billbobow@cs.com

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

fresh water

You have a cast iron keel. You need to repair first or more rust will occur. YOu may have alot of zebra mussles that might attach. For those reasons, repair first. Reemove old paint and then grind rust off. Fill in the pits with a epozxy filler. Sand smooth. Spray zinc chromate on the metal. Epoxy the keel at least 4-5 times and then apply anti fouling. Make sure to use gloves.Crazy Dave Condon

 

[Bill Bowman]

Keel Painting

Thanks for the reply. We are in fresh water and yes there are the zebras around. The boat will not be kept in the water, this year at least. We were looking for a "quick" fix to get us through this season. We will be doing a full bottom job next spring as we are planning to but the boat in a slip.Thanks again.Bill