Recommend A Bottom Paint for my partially repaired swing keel? (current keel paint unknown)

[Carl Wonderful]

Hello,

I cant seem to get a good answer for my issue as its a little complicated. Need a good final (bottom coat?) paint to finish the keel. 1971 Cataina 22 swing keel. Old owner passed years ago so I have not idea what kind paint he used on the keel... but also don't want to re-do the entire keel as 80% of it is fine... 20% of the top is rusted.

Will be on a a freshwater lake in PA for 7 months out of the year. I don't race and this is the hard part of the keel to get to, so I'd like to not have to take my keel the whole way off every year to repaint it.

Also does this process sound like a good plan.. I will be doing as soon as I know what bottom paint to get. I already have all the products which I mention so this is what I'll be using for everything, except the final bottom coat which I dont know what to get for that.


The process....

1. Hammer, scrape and grind all rust parts down to shiny metal. then immediatly....
2. Clean with total boat dewaxer and surfice prep.
3. Apply total boat rust primer...
3a. clean and/or sand before next step?
4. Apply 1 coat totalboat Totalprotect Epoxy Primer
4a. clean and/or sand again before next step???
5. Apply Totalboat Total fair to fill holes and make all smooth.
5a. clean and/or sand again???
6. 3 more coats of totalboat Total protect expoy primer
6a. clean and/or sand again???
7. Then a final coat. Whats a good solid final coat option and how do I prep for it?



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[pertaining to the 80% that is already painted with some layers of unknown paint, but is in good shape...

Do I just do this whole process to the rusted parts maintly, but sand a few inches into the old paint and just feather everything I do into these couple inches to make the transition...
OR do I just like, clean the old 80% of the keel real good and sand it with 80 grit and start at #4 by goign into/over the old (unknown) paint with the totalprotect epoxy primer and keep covering the whole keel like that from then on? ]
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-So is my plan and products good?
-How often do I need to clean, sand, or both in between steps?
-Whats a good simple and solid final bottom paint for the keel of a freshwater boat docked 7 months of year?
-And how do I transition into the old, good, painted areas.... or do I just cover over entire keel starting at the totalprotect epoxy primer step?

Thanks guys (and gals)

 

[thinwater]

With that much pitting I would really suggest sand blasting. It is impossible to get into the pits with any practical sanding and grinding process, and a rust converter is a poor substitute.

If you can find someone to take it to it might not be very expensive. Or wait until someone is blasting at your marina.

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If that is impossible, get a small needle scaler and really work the pits over. They are cheap at places like Amazon and Harbor Freight.You will need a good sized air compressor as well; check the CFM requirement. Not huge, but not a tire inflator.

 

[Carl Wonderful]

Can anyone help me out with recommendations on a final (bottom) coat?
Also if my process is good enough to start working on it?.... Or if not what you would do differently as far as the steps and the order?

 

[Tally Ho]

I would also recommend blasting all of the old stuff off (grinding/sanding may be ok) to get the keel as clean as you can.

Fair it (but be careful with adding much thickness in the area that appears to be scraping in the trunk).

I have used various epoxy barrier coats and I think for this job, most any 2-part epoxy barrier coat will work, including Total Boat.

For a final coat ( I assume you mean an anti-fouling paint), always good to find out what others in your waters use. Iam on Lake Michigan, and VC17 is a common bottom paint for our fresh water sailing. Goes on very thin, can last maybe a few years, but it does need to be refreshed every other year or so generally (many people reapply annually).

The good news is there isn’t a lot of prep needed. Wipe it down and apply a new coat. It doesn’t build much volume, so your keel won’t “put on weight“ and start getting too fat for the trunk.

Greg

 

[Carl Wonderful]

I would also recommend blasting all of the old stuff off (grinding/sanding may be ok) to get the keel as clean as you can.

Fair it (but be careful with adding much thickness in the area that appears to be scraping in the trunk).

I have used various epoxy barrier coats and I think for this job, most any 2-part epoxy barrier coat will work, including Total Boat.

For a final coat ( I assume you mean an anti-fouling paint), always good to find out what others in your waters use. Iam on Lake Michigan, and VC17 is a common bottom paint for our fresh water sailing. Goes on very thin, can last maybe a few years, but it does need to be refreshed every other year or so generally (many people reapply annually).

The good news is there isn’t a lot of prep needed. Wipe it down and apply a new coat. It doesn’t build much volume, so your keel won’t “put on weight“ and start getting too fat for the trunk.

Greg

Thanks for the recommendations. I Have heard of a lot of VC17 users. And yes I actaully just grinded al lthe rust away...Lots of shiny metal now.

So do people really raise their boat off their trailer and take the entire swing keel off every year or 2 years? That seems a bit much to me. I can see doing the whole thing and taking the keel off every 3 or 4 years to re coat and to maybe replace the 4 bolts that hold it to the hangers just to be safe and keep them from breaking inside there (they're cheap).

Also I worry about what kind of paint the original owner used and how my new application will transition into the old unknown paint..? (what if its not compatible..)