Should I prime bare lead?

[RobG]

I did some repairs on the trailing edge of my keel ('87 Ericson 28) last weekend leaving it bare lead. From what I could tell the keel was coated with something before bottom paint. The bottom has just been soda blasted and will have a primer of hard bottom paint followed by ablative coats. Should I prime the bare lead with something different than the hard bottom paint (Fiberglass BottomKote)?
Thanks
Rob

 

[Ross]

Red lead primer? Civil war bullets dug up on 150 year old battle fields still show the land and grooves from the rifle bores.

 

[seadaddler]

Lead Primer

Told to use special lead primer

 

[Randy Burns]

I had good luck with epoxy barrior coat over an iron keel.

 

[Ross]

Consider the reasons we prime paint anything. To inhibit corrosion, not a problem with lead, to enhance adhesion again lead takes paint readily, To seal stains, not an issue. Don't prime! the red lead was a joke.

 

[seadaddler]

Yes Prime

I have cast Iron keel on my boat and was told to use a primer before bottom paint no joke.

 

[Honeyman]

I'm with Randy, use epoxy and it won't rust through.

 

[sailingdog]

Lead doesn't rust.. .only steel and iron alloys do that... Lead oxidizes though.

I'm with Randy, use epoxy and it won't rust through.

 

[Ross]

I took an 80 year old lead closet bend out of a bathroom that I was redoing. It was as good as the day it was installed.

 

[seadaddler]

No Problems

Never saw ayone prime lead

 

[Seattle Scott]

I took my lead keel down to metal. The yard recommended a couple coats of barrier stuff like Interlprotect 2000 before adding the bottom paint. The other advice was to grind/sand the lead until shiny and they apply the first barrier coat immediatley.

Not sure why you would want to apply a hard bottom paint under an albative, rather than go all albative.

 

[jibes138]

Here's what I did and I recommend this

I had adhesion problems on the keel when I bought the boat so I took the keel down to bare lead, now lead oxidizes pretty much immediately so you need to work pretty quickly once it is all clean of paint or other coating. Mix some West System (or other brand) epoxy and completely seal the keel with the epoxy. This will prevent further oxidation and ideally using a non metalic wheel with bristles and some grit like used for polishing parts, work the lead epoxy mixture to make sure the epoxy bonds to pure lead by breaking through the small oxide layer that set up while you were working on it. Let the epoxy set up and then put another coat of West epoxy on it. This will make sure you have a thick enough bond line and cover any areas you might have missed. The next coat should be a barrier coat and hot coat it so it bonds well with the epoxy. This coat provides a base for the paint as the barrier coat is supposed to have good paint adhesion properties. Now hot coat the first coat of paint to the barrier coat. Let dry and add additional coats depending on ablative or hard bottom paint.
I think I read this process on the West web site, but I know I didn't dream it up. It has worked well for me after about 12 years.