Sand blasting west Spain

[IanandHeidrun]

Hi can anyone tell me where I can have a steel sailing yacht (Glacer 40) sand blasted. we are at present in Almerimar Spain an sailing to the southcoast of France. We have a swing keel that is stuck

Thanks

[tdw]

I'm a little confused. What do sand blasting and a stuck swing keel have in common ? I don't see the connection.

On the other hand, you should consider soda rather than sand blasting. I'd have thought it was easier to find a yard who would allow or do soda blasting whereas few yards these days allow sand blasting.

[IanandHeidrun]

Thanks for the quick reply.
I have never heard of soda blasting.... I am however a "green horn" so I shall look it up. Just bought her and plan to bring her back to Germany for a refit. The swing keel has been left down for a long time and is clogged up with rust and marine life. I need to get it free to go through the French Channels. The yard at Almerimar doesn’t have a deep pit or a sand/soda blaster. We will be sailing via the Balearic Islands and then to Barcelona and Marseille.

Ian

[tdw]

I suspect that is going to require a lot of hard work rather than simply a sand or soda blast. You'll obviously need to have hauled, gurney away as much of the crap as you can and then assess.

Marine life will largely come away with a gurney provided it is not dead and/or dried out. Presuming she is badly fouled than you will probably have a fair bit of coral and barnicle and the only way to deal with that is hard work, presuming of course you can get a scraper up into the keel housing.

Can you access the swing mechanism from inside the boat ? If the actual swing mech is rusted up you could have ugly problems freeing it up.

As for yards in Almerimar and Marseille (neither of which I am intimate with) or Barcelona which I know reasonably well I doubt you will find a blaster on the waterfront. Maybe in one of the smaller fishing ports, but I'd be thinking that you will have to have her craned out and trucked to a work yard.

Can you move the keel at all or is it rusted solid.

Any pics ?

[IanandHeidrun]

Ok, I knew this was not going to be easy. It could be sufficient to have a deep pit so that the keel
can be worked on. She has a 1.2 m draft with the keel up and 2,2 m down. There are 2 cover plates
to access the swing mechanism from inside the boat. They are however under the waterline. The mechanism comprises of a bolt in a sleeve which may have to be pressed out. So the deep pit for the 1 ton keel could be the answer. Yes the keel is rusted soild :-(
Photos are available but I need time to find out how to load them.
Here is a similar boat Google-Ergebnis für http://www.portmaps.com/user/3868/big/big_96166ed4400fa39f5d66790b54062347.jpg

Ian

[tdw]

Have you had her out of the water at all ? If not I'd do that and clean up the hull and as much as you can of the inside of the keel housing.

To work on the keel is not going to be easy or cheap. You really need a cradle and then someway of independently supporting the keel. Then you can go to work on the mechanism.

I'm presuming you have already given the keel mechanism copious spraying and soaking with anti rust release agent. I'm also presuming that it is only the bolt that is rusted solid. Other than that the keel should be free to move.

You can load image files by getting yourself a photo image account (I use PhotoBucket but there are others. Zero cost. Then you can link to SailNet post.) You might need to get yourself up to ten posts before you can post pics.