SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Lead versus Iron Keel

4K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  jonasaberg 
#1 ·
HI Folk,

What are the maintenance issues and differences for lead versus iron keels?

Is one keel more maintenance intensive than the other?

For exampe, the Catalina's are built with lead keels and the Jeanneau and Beneteau boats are made with iron keels. Clearly iron is a less costly material. Are there more problems with iron keels?


Thoughts?
 
#2 ·
obviously an iron keel is going to need more prep for paint and possibly some scraping/sanding/wirebrushing before going back in to the water.

Both still use steel bolts for securing to the hull, so that is the weakspot
 
#4 ·
HI Folk,

What are the maintenance issues and differences for lead versus iron keels?

Is one keel more maintenance intensive than the other?

For exampe, the Catalina's are built with lead keels and the Jeanneau and Beneteau boats are made with iron keels. Clearly iron is a less costly material. Are there more problems with iron keels?

Thoughts?
I have a Catalina 22 with a cast iron swing keel that I sail in San Francisco Bay. The boat gets rinsed after each sail and stays on the trailer. I was really surprised with how little rust forms on the keel. I wire brushed it and sprayed it with some rust converting spraypaint and that seems to have been enough. I'm certain that the rusting would be different if I kept her in the water the whole time. Overall I'm very happy with the cast iron swing keel. Being able to beach the boat is very nice for picnics and such. ~LL
 
#5 ·
Yam - I agree with Mad. Maintenance is the issue. The lead keel requires less, while an iron keel requires more. I am not a fan of spending hours grinding the keel, to get to bare metal, then prepping it, then painting with antifouling. I have a Hunter with a lead keel. I just apply new anti-fouling (if needed). The lead holds the paint, I generally don't have to scrape.

Chris
 
#7 ·
I have iron and it is very durable and easy to maintain. It's iron! It's so thick that if i left it for 20 years the rust would just slow the boat down (then fall off). The paint has held up well. Sandblast, prep, and epoxy barrier coat before bottom paint. It will last a long time. No issues with lead FRP separation like on some boats. I've seen some very extensive damage to lead that would never occur to iron. Chunks torn off and gouging.
Lead is more performance oriented nowadays. Iron is cheap and durable.
 
#8 ·
Both have positives, both have negatives.....choose your poison!

I have a Jeanneau with iron. The literal same size shape etc, would weigh some 500 lbs more. OR, I could make the keel a bit thinner, maby make the boat a few seconds a mile faster!

As noted, depending upon your maintenance issues, every decade or so you may need to completely remove everything from the iron keel, reepoxy and start with bottom paint again. Every haulout you may have a spot or two to do. Otherwise, really not much different than lead, paint it!

Marty
 
#9 ·
both have their benefits if you are into the habit of running aground. The Iron will hold up better without damage.. the lead will take damage, but might soften the blow to the hull itself as it is much more malliable
 
#10 ·
Yam - I would not base the decision to buy a boat based upon the keel composition. As the thread has established, lead is easy to maintain, but iron isn't difficult. It's a keel - a huge hunk of metal hanging off the bottom of your boat- grind it, blast it, sand it -- you can't hurt it. If its iron, you just need to prep it before you paint it.

Love the boat you buy, you will spend more time and money on other aspects of her.

Chris
 
#11 · (Edited)
Some friends of ours recently returned from an extended trip to the Bahamas. Part of their post-cruise maintenance involved (they thought) replacing several heavily rusted nuts and washers on the studs from their lead keel. After soaking the nuts in a bath of penetrating oil for several days, upon placing a box wrench on the first or the damaged nuts and giving it a twist, the stud broke off below the keel stub to which the ballast keel was attached. Upon extracting the broken stud, with nut and washer still attached, they discovered that the stud was severely wasted. Further, no water flooded into the boat through the hole formerly occupied by the stud so the keel bedding was not compromised. Before proceeding any further, they had the boat hauled out at a local yard after which they discovered that 5 more studs or roughly 30% of the number of studs holding the ballast keel to the boat broke off in a similar fashion.

With this, the boat was lifted off the ballast keel--that was well braced and supported--and set on blocks near by. The condition of all of the studs was poor, even though there was no evidence of water penetration through the bedding compound. In summary, the cost of repairing the keel, considering the difficulties, would have far exceeded the cost of purchasing a replacement keel and selling the old keel to a scrap dealer (paying $0.25/lb for 6,000 lbs of clean lead).

Had that keel been made of cast iron, it could have easily been repaired at roughly 1/3rd the cost the owners are having to endure. They are, accordingly, no longer extolling the superiority of lead to iron keels.

The next time you see a boat with a lead keel, and stainless steel studs (or J-bolts as some refer to them) holding it on, ask yourself whether the keel stub/bilge is, might ever, be wet and if so, what might be the consequences for the studs.

For my part, I'll stick with Iron--perhaps with an easily replaced lead shoe if additional ballast is needed down low.

FWIW...
 
  • Like
Reactions: benesailor
#13 ·
Art--

While the old Studs could have been melted out of the existing keel by heating the lead locally, leaving an 18" or better cavity in the keel, the replacement studs, which would have had to have been precisely positioned, would have required a replacement lead pour that would have resulted in a cold joint in the lead, which is very weak. The folks dealing with the issue are really quite expert with the matter and would have effected the repair, but at great expense and without any guaranty as the keel would no longer have been monolithic.

FWIW...
 
#15 ·
A manufacturing mistake is no reason not to use a lead keel.
A few years ago a Bavaria lost more than half of its cast iron keel due to incorrect production. The cast iron contained small amounts of lead. In cast iron this induce a very week structure that made the keel brake in half.

A lead is usually maintenance free. I have owned yachts with both and I would choose the lead keel any and every day.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top