Bottom prep on 1986 h23 with iron keel

[Kids4sail]

I nave a 1986 h23 that I bought last year. It has what looks like a buildup of bottom paint that that seems to scrap off. (ablative?) If I sand this off, how do I know when to stop before I damage the gel coat or will i just know when I see it. What do I need to do with the iron keel? I plan on sanding it down to remove rust spots but what do I coat it with? Is there something I need do do with the joint between the hull and the keel? and finally I would like to finish with a vc17. Is a barrier coat necessary? I am in Ohio and the boat is in the water 7 months max. Thanks for you input.

Kris

[sailingfool]

You need to strip the keel to bright metal, immediately apply up to five coats of straight epoxy. see Fiberglass Boat Repair and Restoration for techniques.

You can try just caulking the joint, if it subsequently rusts, which is likely, then grind the are bare again and cover with epoxy and a layer or two of fg cloth.

[T34C]

Yes to the barrier coat. Why go to all that work and then skimp on the the next to last step. the barrier coat won't be all that hard to do, just a little time consuming. Interlux can tell you the recommended barrier coat for VC17 (VC Tar is still the recommended one I think but may have something newer).

[BigZ]

Originally Posted by Kids4sail

I nave a 1986 h23 that I bought last year. It has what looks like a buildup of bottom paint that that seems to scrap off. (ablative?) If I sand this off, how do I know when to stop before I damage the gel coat or will i just know when I see it. What do I need to do with the iron keel? I plan on sanding it down to remove rust spots but what do I coat it with? Is there something I need do do with the joint between the hull and the keel? and finally I would like to finish with a vc17. Is a barrier coat necessary? I am in Ohio and the boat is in the water 7 months max. Thanks for you input.

Kris

yes, with the ablative paint you'll know when you hit gelcoat. Try a sample area using 100 or 80 grit on an orbital sander. You'll see how you can tell when gelcoat is hit. If you're doing this in yard don't do it without some type of dust collection. In MI it is illegal to sand bottom paint without dust collection (not strictly enforced), not sure if Ohio has similar rules. But anyway you want a dust collector and proper air filtration so you're not breathing that crap.
For the keel, if you can't sand blast or soda blast it, cut the rust and excess build up with a 16 grit disk on an angle sander. Then hit low spots with a heavy duty wire brush. Once the crud is gone coat the exposed iron with POR-15. Let that harden then smooth that out and reapply as needed. Then fill in the low spots with West 410 mixture. Sand that smooth and apply several coats of epoxy with a roller. Wet sand between coats with 240 grit, 400 on the last coat.

At least that's what I did with my iron keel last spring. It's sucky work that sucks big time. I used the POR-15 since it doesn't matter if the exposed iron has a slight bit of rust on it, which it will get unless you're doing the work in an environmentally controlled area.

Or just paint over the keel. Did I mention that working on iron keels sucks?