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Has anyone ever stripped the epoxy from the keel and refinished. If so I would like to know how it was done.
Al,
A great topic, of which I share your interest and would like to expand the inquiry. The D37 lead ballast is “external” and secured to the hull via embedded keel bolts. This creates a seam with the fiberglass hull. I am interested in how folks treat that seam during regular fairing and bottom repaint. Fill? Tape and grind? Disregard?
In answer to your question, I just sand and paint. But I bet there is a better answer—particularly from long time experienced skippers like “Imagine”.
The reason I ask about stripping is that every year more and more of the epoxy pops off around the edges, with oxidation underneeth!
Sorry to dispoint, but I can’t claim to have found any good solution for keeping the lead sealed up on “Imagine”.
On most of the keel, when a spot of fairing or epoxy has failed I have ground it all down to bare lead and applied 4 to 6 coats of Interprotect 2000 to the spot before repainting with that year’s bottom paint. Years ago I attempted to fair it first, but those spots seemed to fail again relatively quickly. So now I just go with the Interprotect 2000 directly on the lead. That seems to hold up pretty well, and I have fewer and fewer spots every year.
The downside is that there are all of these little concave spots on the lead where I didn’t get as much Interprotect buildup as I had ground off during prep. But the good news is that it seems to hold up pretty well.
The joint where the lead meets the hull is a different story. I have played with trying to keep it faired over the years, but with little success. The hull settles into one shape during the winter when it is sitting on the hard and all of the weight of the boat is pressing down on the lead. Then as soon as they pick it up in the travel lift, the lead is trying to pull away from the rest of the boat, and everything takes a different shape. At that point I can see the tiny hairline cracks appear on the joint. Water gets into those cracks during the summer, and I get the oxidation streaks showing up when she is hauled out.
Sorry to say, it has been on my list of things to research for a long time, and never made it even close to the top of the list.
Al,
Is your paint flaking off the lead?…West system, or any decent epoxy (moisture insensitive) will bond to lead …I’d call the folks at WEST’s *800 # and ask what they suggest…I’m sure they have done this proceedure a few times. Heres a link…seems like “clean, bright..done”http://www.westsystem.com/ss/surface-preparation/
I’d either strip off the paint using one of the “environmentally friendly” strippers – they are water based so they are not a toxic mess ( IF the boatyard allows…), or use a vacuum sander (Festool of FEIN) with a HEPA vac system & a respirator to catch any weird “lead dust”…..I can’t imagine this is a fun job….
A buddy of mine used 3M 5200 on a smaller centerboard repair…..5200 is rated for in water use & seems to have held up….
Just a thought..I know the prior owner of IRIS used 5200 for many many repairs.. I’m always bumping into the stuff & it holds up like iron…
Thanks Mike,
At the moment the question is more of how to remove the current coating that is still well bonded to the lead rather than what to put back on it. I am sure that West system will work well.
Al,
If I were removing lots of bottom paint, ect to seal the bottom with epoxy & do the keel at the same time I’d have a soda blaster visit the boatyard & do the whole job. They do this stuff all the time & are in/out & done 1 day. They might be i n the yard doing other boats, and just to do the keel is a little “filler” job for them….just a thought.
Mike
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