Blisters on My Keel

[mblowes]

Just had a pre condition survey done.. told I have some blisters on the keel. Keel is made from lead and understand some filling was done , and that has come away. Does that make sense to everyone? I'm told this is quite different from blisters on the grp hull.

This is just a ping.. confirm if it makes sense.

Ping.

[Ziggy]

If I understood you correctly, the keel is external lead, with some fairing applied to fill pitting, and now the fairing material has blistered? Makes sense to me and doesn't seem like a big deal. Just grind them out, and apply new vinylester or epoxy-based fairing compound.

[boatman61]

No biggie... if its not an encased keel just clean back... not sure I'd use a grinder tho'... then refair it
Ping...

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, mblowes.

As my predecessors have indicated, blisters on external lead are no big deal.

[mblowes]

Thanks to all. Apparently this is the one time blisters aren't serious.

[s/v Jedi]

Often the fairing falls off or blisters are found, this is caused by contamination between the lead and the fairing. I had this problem and found sand from the mold that was used to cast the keel.

To fix this, you need to get epoxy to stick to lead. You do that by coating the lead with an un-thickened epoxy and then using a steel brush to vigorously brush the fresh (right after coating) epoxy into the lead. Do the fairing as soon as this coat has gelled but is still sticky.

I didn't do this the first time so I had to do it again next haul out

ciao!
Nick.

[Blue Stocking]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Often the fairing falls off or blisters are found, this is caused by contamination between the lead and the fairing. I had this problem and found sand from the mold that was used to cast the keel.

To fix this, you need to get epoxy to stick to lead. You do that by coating the lead with an un-thickened epoxy and then using a steel brush to vigorously brush the fresh (right after coating) epoxy into the lead. Do the fairing as soon as this coat has gelled but is still sticky.

I didn't do this the first time so I had to do it again next haul out

ciao!
Nick.

My experience exactly. The key is to get the lead as clean as possible, an d do as Nick says.