YM Senior - Painting around steel keels

[Joao]

Hi All,


So I am in the process of painting the hull and applying copper coat to it.

I have already sanded down to bare wood and was very happy to see that apart from some small areas that seemed to already have been treated before, there was no visible signs of rot damage.

I have not taped over the seams but I did apply a coat of epoxy to the bottom of the boat straight to the wood. After this I applied my first coat of Hempels light primer (2 part paint). I am looking at applying one or two more coats.

For the steel keels I stripped and sanded with an angle grinder and after that cleaned with white spirit and painted with rustins rust converter. Afterwards a coat of Hempels light primer. will apply more along with the hull.

My concern now is how to treat the junction between the keels and the hull. At the moment it seems to have a flexible caulking of some kind. It does not crumble if I scratch it with a blade and it is still elastic, but I am unsure if I should paint with epoxy on top of it.

I have some Sikaflex Black 291i and I am tempted to try and push the existing unknown caulking in and applying Sikaflex all around the keels to know I have a sound seal that I can then paint on top.

But I am unsure if it makes any sense to paint on top of this connection. Will there be much movement in such a small boat/ small keels?
Previously it was painted over.

Please see image attached (mind that the epoxy is wet and it makes all look quite dark and bad...), the junction is above the steel plate that takes the bolts and the plywood board that sits against the hull, about 2mm high.

Any thoughts? Thanks!
Joao

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1inblRV ... sp=sharing

[Keith Mc]

Hi Joao

My feeling is that if the existing caulking appears sound then I would leave it be. I wouldn't expect there to be movement between keels and hull if it is bolted securely. And yes, I would paint over it.

I don't know if you have bought your coppercoat yet. I bought mine from Aquarius Marine Coatings. The chap who answers the phone is both knowledgeable and helpful. I would talk with him before going much further.

Aquarius Marine Coatings Ltd
Unit 10, St Patricks Industrial Estate
Shillingstone
Dorset
DT11 0SA

+44 (0)1258 861059

[Joao]

Hi Keith,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, I already have my coppercoat and I bought directly from the company you bought too. I did get in touch with Geoffrey (the initial owner) and asked his advise which was the same as yours, so that's what I will be doing.
I did write an email before buying the coppercoat explaining the boat type and the primer to use etc and got their comment on this too.

Currently I have:
- sanded/scraped down to bare wood
- applied a layer of epoxy to the hull under the waterline
- applied two layers of hempel light primer

Now I need to correct some spills and fix some little holes with hempel two part epoxy filling, lightly sand, clean and wait for a weekend with good weather to coppercoat!

At home I've stripped the mast completely, epoxied some parts where the different bits of timber where ungluing and now already applied the fist layer of epoxy to it. I want to apply another layer of epoxy and after that two coats of hempel diamond varnish.

And I have also done some small cleats and fairleads in ash by hand to go along nicely with the existing timber parts.

getting a bit anxious to get back in the water, but the weather has been quite cold...

Kind regards,
Joao