Had this spider cracking on my keel (about the middle on port side) for a couple of three, four seasons. It hasn't changed much, every spring I tell myself I'll look at it again and do something in fall after haul out. But spring comes and I scruff it up and slather it with VC 17 and splash. With the nice weather, and still hopefully only four weeks to splash ( if the Marina is not in lock-down ), I'm again trying to decide if I should grind this down, fair it out. apply a couple of spoon fills of Interprotect 2000 at $80/qt just to make it look pretty again? It's only lead under there, right?
What is this on my Keel?
- Thread starter captcoho
- Start date
BTW.... The keel bolts are not bonded to anything in the boat, or ground or any type of lightning protection system so I don't believe I took a lightning hit or this is some type of electrolysis, or galvanic action
You could try grinding/ sanding it down and see what is under there.
I had some areas where my VC17 was not adhering very well, so this year, I sanded it down before I put a fresh coat on next week...
Hoping it improves boat speed and adhesion of the new VC17!
Greg
I had some areas where my VC17 was not adhering very well, so this year, I sanded it down before I put a fresh coat on next week...
Hoping it improves boat speed and adhesion of the new VC17!
Greg
+1 on the adhesion issue. I do not think this is serious.
I had a similar issue this spring with bottom paint adhesion. It turned out to be a few areas I did some epoxy fairing and neglected to properly abrade the surface a bit (maybe with just a little 80 grit hand sanding).
I use a more traditional ablative bottom paint, not VC-17. That said, I personally would:
1. Scrape off the flakes.
2. Check what is underneath the area--probably a mix of weird Catalina fairing putty and lead.
3. Perhaps abrade what is underneath with 80 grit.
4. Bottom paint, splash, sail away to a non-infected location
I don't think you have to do much fairing from your photos, but if you do and/or for those with more significant keel issues, then read on. . . .
My 1982 C30 keel looked rough two years ago during the survey.
I heard horror stories about Catalina smiles and needing to redo hull to keel joints, etc.
But my surveyor said it was just a fairing issue and maybe a little bit of an easy-to-fix smile.
What I have learned from messing with my keel is this:
Depending on the actual location on the keel, those faired areas can take a lot of grinding before you hurt the keel. Go easy with it until you get a feel for how your grinder and keel interact. I think it is pretty obvious when you get to to lead--if you are going easy you will make the lead shiny before you start to remove material. Stop here. Definitely wash the amine blush from the epoxy and abrade a little prior to painting.
Additionally, I had a hairline gap at the hull to keel joint. It was uniform and I couldn't decide whether it was simply the joint or the beginnings of a smile. I decided it was simply the joint since a smile usually appears at one end of the keel. Bottom paint basically filled the gap so it is not much of a gap. Standard, well documented repair for a smile involves West System G-flex.
Good luck. My gut says you really do not have much of a problem.
I had a similar issue this spring with bottom paint adhesion. It turned out to be a few areas I did some epoxy fairing and neglected to properly abrade the surface a bit (maybe with just a little 80 grit hand sanding).
I use a more traditional ablative bottom paint, not VC-17. That said, I personally would:
1. Scrape off the flakes.
2. Check what is underneath the area--probably a mix of weird Catalina fairing putty and lead.
3. Perhaps abrade what is underneath with 80 grit.
4. Bottom paint, splash, sail away to a non-infected location
I don't think you have to do much fairing from your photos, but if you do and/or for those with more significant keel issues, then read on. . . .
My 1982 C30 keel looked rough two years ago during the survey.
I heard horror stories about Catalina smiles and needing to redo hull to keel joints, etc.
But my surveyor said it was just a fairing issue and maybe a little bit of an easy-to-fix smile.
What I have learned from messing with my keel is this:
- Catalina used a TON of some kind of fairing putty on keels in the early 80s (don't know for how long they continued to do so).
- My issues ended up being a little below the joint on my keel. The fairing material/putty had begun spalling and chipping out in kind of scary sized chunks down to the lead below. I wondered if the lead was chipping out.
- My repair: sand, chip, fairly aggressively grind out all loose material. Fill with West System--thickening with the EASY TO SAND FILLERS (NOT, repeat NOT silica). The easier to sand fillers are not a water barrier, but a water barrier is not needed for lead. And these fillers are WAY easier to sand than the silica stuff.
Depending on the actual location on the keel, those faired areas can take a lot of grinding before you hurt the keel. Go easy with it until you get a feel for how your grinder and keel interact. I think it is pretty obvious when you get to to lead--if you are going easy you will make the lead shiny before you start to remove material. Stop here. Definitely wash the amine blush from the epoxy and abrade a little prior to painting.
Additionally, I had a hairline gap at the hull to keel joint. It was uniform and I couldn't decide whether it was simply the joint or the beginnings of a smile. I decided it was simply the joint since a smile usually appears at one end of the keel. Bottom paint basically filled the gap so it is not much of a gap. Standard, well documented repair for a smile involves West System G-flex.
Good luck. My gut says you really do not have much of a problem.
I keep telling my immune system-compromised wife she can borrow my respirator to go to the grocery store, but so far, she has taken a pass.
But hey, we found toilet paper yesterday, and filled very gas can we could find with gas @ $1.24 a gallon!
Now, if I can only get the bottom painted and the boat in the water before someone shuts down the marina and sends the yard guys home
. I don’t think that they will let me use the travel lift myself ;-).Greg
I had a similar issue with my 1997 Catalina 28. There were cracks and delamination in the fairing in multiple spots on the port side of the wing keel. They were all near the horizontal center of the vertical keel surface, not near the curves. It almost looked like someone had used a sounding hammer on the keel and hit it hard enough to fracture the fairing. I used a putty knife to remove the fractured fairing, then used West Epoxy with thickener to fair the keel. I didn't us enough thickener and it sagged, resulting in more sanding than I would have liked. So make the epoxy as thick as you can. I also believe the best practice is to paint unthickened epoxy on the surface as a primer because it is wets the surface better than the thickened epoxy.
Mike
Mike
Paid $2.39 yesterday and thought myself lucky.. Several stations were advertising prices from $2.85 to $2.999
Unfortunately, there was steel in my keel along with the lead. And it rusted. Had to grind it all out to clean lead and fill with Marine Tex, fair and barrier coat. Drill a small hole - if it's rusty, get out the grinder.
Great advice msmalter--thicken it as much as possible and paint / roll on some unthickened first.
Thanks to everyone for all their sage advise. Curiosity got the best of me and did some grinding (see pics).
As most suggested, just some crappy fairing compound. The lead keel itself is fine. After and little more sanding I've applied some Water-tite epoxy and will soon sand that flat. Hopefully someone in the yard will have a couple of spoonful's of Inter-Protect 2000 or an empty can in the dumpster, so I can prime before the VC 17 goes on. One advantage to applying the VC 17 in April is that being that the temps are still cool, and it doesn't dry fast.
Thanks to everyone.....Hopefully Greg found some TP on his last shopping trip LOL
As most suggested, just some crappy fairing compound. The lead keel itself is fine. After and little more sanding I've applied some Water-tite epoxy and will soon sand that flat. Hopefully someone in the yard will have a couple of spoonful's of Inter-Protect 2000 or an empty can in the dumpster, so I can prime before the VC 17 goes on. One advantage to applying the VC 17 in April is that being that the temps are still cool, and it doesn't dry fast.
Thanks to everyone.....Hopefully Greg found some TP on his last shopping trip LOL
