Keel repair

[Ron-Anne]

We are in the process of "fairing out" the keel, she's in rough shape, my thoughts are 1) grind down the few really bad spots, 2) sand the "not so bad" spots and where I did the grinding using 40 grit 3) sand down with finer grit sand paper and 4) to finish the job, , and here's my question, epoxy??? and bottom paint. I was going to sand blast but there are other boats too close to mine. Thanks ahead of time for any help.
Ron

 

[tcbro]

Fairing

The usual fairing material is epoxy with microballoons. If it's cast iron like mine you'll never get rid of the rust.

 

[Amos Cape]

We are using POR 15 to help stop the rusting process. I know two of are club members that have used it and have had no rusting after five years and one that is free for two years. One used epoxy and one with Marine-Tex to make it smooth again. I'm going with Marine-Tex too.
Good luck with your project.

 

[tcbro]

I see that you sail in fresh water

What was the prep before the POR-15? I don't think I could get all of the rust off of my keel. Too many little nooks and crannies. DNR here would frown on Naval Jelly.

Tom

 

[Steve Dion]

POR 15 prep. Looks easy.

http://www.por15.com/Preparation-Products/products/2/

Check out the What is POR-15 tab. They have a short video on the prep. I think I would remove the big stuff before I started.

 

[Amos Cape]

That all you do is remove all you can then use the treatment to prep it for the POR 15. It is that easy to use. Don't get it on you!!! If you do I hope you like the color_/)_

 

[newage1461]

Somewhere along the line someone put a skim layer of lead over the cast iron keel on my 81 H-30 .

 

[Amos Cape]

Most of the older Hunters like ours have a lead keel.

 

[tcbro]

Looks good

Too late for this year, I'm due to splash tomorrow. I will look into it further, maybe try it out on something else first and consider using it on my keel next year. It will still be a big job as I would have to remove all of the epxoy fairing that is still on there. That stuff doesn't come off easily.

Thanks for the info,
Tom

 

[Dalliance]

Somewhere along the line someone put a skim layer of lead over the cast iron keel on my 81 H-30 .

Amos Cape is has right. You have a solid lead keel.

I was prepping mine for fairing a couple weeks ago; cleaning it up with a wire brush wheel on my electric drill; and I encountered a couple small pockets of sand from the sand casting process they used to mold the keel. It was reddish-brown sand that looked just like rust, so I can see how someone could think they have cast iron under a coat of lead.