Keel prep before bottom paint

[Dubo]

I have finished stripping the bottom paint down to the gelcoat on my 87 31' Hunter. When I got to where the hull meets the keel rust appears to have occurred. I chipped some of the gelcoat on the keel away to remove most of the lose stuff. I will grind the exposed iron and the gelcoat a bit so they have a good tooth for an epoxy coating. There seems to be metal on metal where the keel meets the hull (see pic). My question is, what is the best way to prep the exposed keel, especially where there is a slight channel at the seam? Do I excavate the rust or apply something like naval jell? Also is 4200 or epoxy best to fill the seam?

I will be fairing epoxy where I chipped the gelcoat away to build it up again.

TIA,
JD

 

[Ed Schenck]

Hey Dion, you had one of these H31s. What do you make of JD's keel? I have never seen anything like this keel to hull joint. Is that 'S' curve metal to metal?

 

[bugsboat]

Because the keel is cast iron and the anti-fouling paint has a copper copolymer, the keel and the paint creates the rust. The best way to treat this metal is to etch the metal after the paint has been removed, cover with a good base paint, and then with anti fouling paint. I would research the paint for the type of water your boat will be operating in and make your choices.
For our Hunter 33, we stripped the anti fouling paint, etched with Viny-Lux from Interlux, painted 5-6 coats of Interprotect 2000 and then covered with 2 coats of VC-17m. The boat is on Lake Erie and VC-17 does a good job in fresh water.

 

[Numlock]

Rust where keel meets hull

Because the keel is cast iron and the anti-fouling paint has a copper copolymer, the keel and the paint creates the rust. The best way to treat this metal is to etch the metal after the paint has been removed, cover with a good base paint, and then with anti fouling paint. I would research the paint for the type of water your boat will be operating in and make your choices.
For our Hunter 33, we stripped the anti fouling paint, etched with Viny-Lux from Interlux, painted 5-6 coats of Interprotect 2000 and then covered with 2 coats of VC-17m. The boat is on Lake Erie and VC-17 does a good job in fresh water.

On our Hunter '93 30T we have rust--actually a six or seven inch line of rust--where the keel meets the hull. Every year I scrape it off and repaint, and it always comes back. My question is: Is this just a cosmetic issue or is there the possibility of damage, like the keel falling off or something like that? We're in fresh water--Lake Ontario. (Too much fresh water this year!)

 

[Dan Johnson]

Hey Ed S...

Attached pic is what the forward edge of my hull/keel joint on my H34 looked like when I bought the boat.

It's not as advanced a condition or as wide a gap as Dubo's, but is quite common in the early to mid 80's H31/H34 models with the steel keels that Hunter used.

Clean out, fill with epoxy filler, smooth, seal, and paint was what I was told to do to resolve the issue.

 

[Allan12210]

My first reply vanished into cyberspace. It may show up again but anyway....my keel looks the same as Dan's and JD's. I cleaned that gap out well and used 5200. I worked it in and just troweled flat with a putty knife. That has held up well for many years. The coating on the rest of the keel would keep flaking off with the surface rust, so we would grind, repaint with epoxy fairing compound and barrier coats. Four years ago we ground down the leading and trailing edges and applied two layers of glass mat with epoxy. We are hauling on Friday, so stay tuned for how well that worked.

Allan

 

[Dubo]

We are hauling on Friday, so stay tuned for how well that worked.

I'm curious to see/hear how she held up Allan. I'm getting ready to prime the metal I exposed so seeing the success of your effort after several years would be useful.

Thanks,

JD

 

[jtm]

"hunter Smile"

You have the ol Hunter "smile". I use POR-15 on my keel iron. It has worked out well and each year I have less and less of it to deal with. Google it- comes in a small kit- a Marine wash, a primer prep and the paint -n finish coat(grey) which dries and hermetically seals the area. But you need to paint over the top coat as It doesn't do well in long UV exposure.

 

[Rich M]

JT
How much of the keel does the Marine kit cover? I have issues with the lower half and especially the bottom of my keel. Also any suggestions on where to buy POR?

 

[Don Crowther]

Rich

If you google por-15 you'll find out where their website is. On there you will find all the info you need. The sample kit comes with enough product to cover 12 sq. ft. I've stripped my keel down and now sealing it with por-15. I've used it before. Beware that what they say about it not coming off your hands is true. Use gloves when working with this stuff. I've found that everything the manufactor says about this product is true. I have no finacial interest in this product I just use it.

 

[Allan12210]

Four Years Later

We just finished our haul out. This was one of the easier ones...just took from Friday to Monday.

Back in 2007 we decided to address the "smile" on the leading edge of the keel once again and hopefully for good. We ground everything off the keel to bare metal around the crack feathering into existing barrier coat and stripped the paint off the fiberglass adjacent to the junction. After allowing a clear coat of West Systems epoxy to get a bit tacky, we applied two layers of glass cloth, followed with more resin to just saturate the cloth. We used a plastic scraper to squeegee the excess. After curing overnight we applied two coats of Interlux 3000 barrier coat (allowing 3 hours between coats). This was followed with our usual 2 coats of bottom paint.

The final analysis was when we hauled out Friday May 20, 2011.....that is the last picture. For the first time ever, no crack. It looks like our repair held. What a relief.

Allan

 

[Dan Johnson]

Allan...

Nice repair job! I'm letting the paint slough off the keel again this year by not painting it so that I can have an easier job of taking it down to bare metal to refinish it next season. Your solution's pics will help with next year's work. Thanks for sharing...