The rusty keel

[mariner]

Pulled the Annemarie out of the water today and started to think about the keel. It was coated with bottom paint and heavily rusted, I would say at least half blew off when I was pressure washing the crud off of the bottom. I was wondering if anyone had any experiences they could share on cleaning and coating? Do any of the products that the auto parts stores sell work well? any favorite products? I'm not looking to do a perfect job, just enough to keep the rust at bay for a while. I guess i'm looking for a simple way out!

Thanks for the help!

[Mario G]

you can use epoxy primer it comes in a green spray can then any color top paint. It will not stop the groth but will help against the rust, if its real bad Mar-hide rust converter also found at auto parts stores is a good product.

[tnc110]

dont use "chassis saver" ...I did and it rusted quickly...

[CaptainScott]

I wire brushed her keel to remove all loose stuff.
I coated her keel with a good marine rust preventative primer.
Then a coat of decent marine ablative paint.

Racers will quickly note, I did not fair the keel. Also the ablative paint is a soft paint and not the best choice for racing. Since I do not race and that extra 1/4 knot of speed is irrelevant to me. My concern is to protect the keel and keep as nice as possible for a long time. Touch up with ablative paint is easy and looks very nice.

Cost of materials was a bit over 100 bucks.

Here are the results:

[EmergencyExit]

Hmmm, this topic title has me pondering -

Wouldn't that be great name for a little watering hole - "The Rusty Keel"

[CaptainScott]

I love it!
"The Rusty Keel"

Lets go!

Scott

[Banshi]

Mine was heavily rusted and after chipping ,grinding and wire brushing it I used POR15 system to clean/seal/rust kill, and prime it , then used the two part teflon epoxy I used on the bottom and the rust still seems to be stopped.

http://www.byershome.net/_Boat/Keel/Keel.htm

[FranS]

Damn, that's one purty looking keel!

[Gus]

Why don't take it out and fiberglass it? I think there's info in the Catalina 22 Chip Ahoy website.

Gus

[mariner]

Thanks for the info guys, I would like to pull the keel however it's not in the cards. The preveous owner was going to pull it and epoxy coat it etc. But he could not budge the bolts.(he was very handy, worked in a machine shop and custom made many parts in stainless for the trailer and boat) As there is no rust on the bolts and no water leaks that I can detect . I do not want to mess with it, so I'll have to do what I can while she's still on the trailor.

[guyaks]

Hello,

My keel, is on my garage floor(it is on little wooden dollies), there is so much rust, i beat it with a hammer, the grinded with an angle grinder.

my question...does the keel ever become smooth again?????


thanks

Guy

[J. Austin]

I've always had good luck with Naval Jelly.

Good thick bottom paint should fill in most voids.

I like the glassing it idea, big project though.

[guyaks]

Hey Jay,

how do i use the naval jelly to clean the rust off the keel??


thanks so much

Guy

[Gus]

If its too rusted, I'd take it to a place they can sandblast it clean. I tried the hammer and wire brush with no results.

[Holiday]

The local powder coater here in NC quoted me $175 to sandblast prime and polyester powder coat once I have the keel out. When you look at the cost of materials thats a pretty good deal. Most areas have small shops doing this type of work.

Holiday

[Banshi]

I would avoid the fiberglass option because water will get in between the glass and the metal and now you have a real mess on your hands. Some keels were made this way in years past and long term it was not pretty. POR 15 surface prep does not need to be perfect, just get the scale off and grind/wire brush the rest, the light surface rust left over will be stopped and sealed in by the POR 15. Even if it gets scraped off only the exposed area will rust and it will not progress under the paint.

[guyaks]

Hello Banshi

i saw how you cleaned and painted your keel, after the primer, you mentioned filler, what did you use to fill in the deeper cranies in the keel??


thanks so much for such good info and the pictures help out alot.


Guy

[J. Austin]

Guyaks,

Hey Jay,

how do i use the naval jelly to clean the rust off the keel??

Naval Jelly is cool stuff, after you get the loose stuf off with a wire brush or wheel, spread this stuff all over then let sit for ten min. Turns a nasty black and you rinse it away with water. Its a good starting base for epoxy, glass or whatever.

Let me know what you end up doing, and how it goes.

[Banshi]

I used filler made to work well with the por 15 by them. But as long as you use their primer over the por 15 first you can probably use any suitable for the job.

[sailbob2]

I've used the POR-15 for painting car frames (what it's designed for if I remember correctly) works great for that application don't see why it wouldn't work for our keels.

[tgentry]

I was going to suggest POR-15. That's what I'll be using. Now if I can just figure out how to get my keel off this spring...