Painting a lead keel

[Glenn Bollin]

After chipping off the loose paint on my 1988 Hunter 26.5, I discovered a lead keel. How do you prepare the lead beyound scuff sanding, primer? Also, what kind of paint should I use? Where the keel transitions to the hull the loose paint was up to 1/16 " thick. Should I smooth this area with some sort of filler? Maybe I should just bottom paint, throw her in the water and go fishing. Any advice?

 

[avid]

keel paint

After cleaning my lead keel I faired some areas with epoxy putty and then painted with the bottom paint that I used on the rest of the bottom. No corrosion since that was done four years ago.

 

[Dave Mauney]

Just finished doing that

The Lead was pitted. Ground down the whole keel to remove most of the pitting. It was general and shallow, no real deep ones. Faired the joint with 3M 5200 and sand it in if it has time to cure. Put on two coats of Interlux 2000E for a good epoxy interlayer. We do the same on the prop shaft, strut and prop here. Then put the anti-foulant over that. Previous I have had trouble getting bottom paint to stick to lead.Good WindsDaves/v DAMWEGAS

 

[Steve Dion]

Bare it all!

Glenn:I think that you want to get the keel down to bright metal.Here is a link to the Interlux site that explains it in detail. This is pretty much what I have heard that others have done. http://us.yachtpaint.com/usa/boat_painting_guide/bpg2001/boaters_guides/pages/p23_24.htm