Keel Rust and Fairing

[Mark Nooney]

Hi all
I have a 1984 - 31. The boat is on the hard for a fresh coat of bottom
paint. I inspected the keel and hit it with a hammer to loosen some to
the rust on the leading edge. Good news is that the rust came off pretty
easily. The bad news is I'll need to smooth the leading edge. I am thinking
epoxy with fairing filler mixed in is the way to go.
Any thoughts??
Also - I plan to take all the paint off the keel - is there a product that
I can seal the keel to help prevent future rusting?

Thanks
Mark

 

[kloudie1]

recent posts.. The 34 from that era has a cast iron keel too..
http://forums.hunter.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?p=1004777&highlight=iron keel
There are a bunch of other posts about this.. The fairing.. you are right on, Mark.. some epoxy with microbaloons or another filler to make it paste-like and trowel on .. then sand fair..

 

[Steve Dion]

Yes and you will need to sandblast it and get it to shinny metal before you epoxy it.

Check out the Interlux/Yachtpaint website for instructions on stopping/slowing down the rust.

 

[cjfj]

You're luckier than I am, my keel has a great deal of rust this year (first year we've owned the boat) I plan on taking a grinder and to bare metal, coat with a rust converter (ospho) to convert any remaining rust, then prime, epoxy fairing and paint. http://www.thevirtualboatyard.com/2011/09/rusty-keels-.html is a good source as to what I'm up against.
Jim