Antifouling Bottom of Keel

[Claus Kjaerby]

Any good advises on how to get to paint the bottom of an iron keel with antifouling (it stands on it you see)?

[Strygaldwir]

Your best shot is to give it a coat while it is in the lift sling. Some paints have a very high flash rate and this will suffice. Check with the manufacturer of the paint you're using. Otherwise it is a difficult thing to get done.

[Sandero]

hahahaha,

dig out a bit at a time, paint, back fill and move along. jus kiddin.

Ask the yard to let you in the slings over night and paint while it's in the slings. Many yards will do that if they can do the launch first thing in the morning.

[Jim Cate]

Claus,

Above suggestions are ok if you are using a travelift to lift the boat. If you are using a slipway (railroad), about the only thing I've found is to set the keel onto a couple of big square timbers. This will allow painting most of the keel's bottom, but obviously not all, unless you refloat, move the timbers a bit and start over. Big PITA... and of course, once you get the paint on, we usually manage to run aground soon and scrape it all back off!

What the world needs is some form of antifouling that can be applied underwater!

Cheers,

Jim

[Claus Kjaerby]

Thanks to all of you. Putting your advises together will do it: dig out the keel, run on ground and paint it in the water with water based paint.

[Doghouse]

hey you can just move to my marina, the entrance is 3 ' at low tide. go in and out at mid tide and sand the bottom each trip. next year you will have a very smooth surface to paint

By the way Salt Ponds marina in Hampton, VA is now deemed unsafe

[Cheechako]

That's why you need to bump bottom now and then.... ;>)

[nautical62]

Originally Posted by Strygaldwir

Your best shot is to give it a coat while it is in the lift sling. Some paints have a very high flash rate and this will suffice. Check with the manufacturer of the paint you're using. Otherwise it is a difficult thing to get done.

And if you need a little more time, ask your yard to lift it as their last boat one day and launch it the next morning.

[noelex 77]

If its just anifouling paint I would not be too concerned the growth on the bottom of the keel is not all that great, probably due to low light levels. Just give it a coat when in the slings and you will be OK

[Claus Kjaerby]

Originally Posted by noelex 77

If its just anifouling paint I would not be too concerned the growth on the bottom of the keel is not all that great, probably due to low light levels. Just give it a coat when in the slings and you will be OK

Thanks. The thing is that I have quite a bit of rust adn would like to stop that process. SO i shpuld focus on primer if I have only limited chance to apply!?

[boden36]

Our steel keel bottom is long and and wide. I have pretty well given up trying to keep paint of any sort on it. Have welded an anode to the underside to deal with corrosion, and use an air chisel when on the slips to carve off what I can get at. Dont think there is any noticeable speed penalty. Regards, Richard.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Claus Kjaerby

Thanks. The thing is that I have quite a bit of rust adn would like to stop that process. SO i shpuld focus on primer if I have only limited chance to apply!?

Is it iron or lead?
The copper based antfoulings tend to accelerate corrosion so I would be more inclined to apply primer, particularly if you can dive and scrub the bottom of the keel.
As an alternative. If you ask the yard they can rest the keel on couple of thick wooden blocks. The idea is to paint the accessible areas then lift the boat move the blocks and treat the previously covered areas.
The drawback is you need to pay for a second lift and paint treatments can take many days to apply the required coats. The time is doubled with the required move.

[SabreKai]

I find that I can lift the boat up enough to get it painted with a 20ton bottle jack. I clean up and paint what I can get at, then once its hard I put a 4x6 under the keel and pump it up at one end. Lengthen the pads as you go. Clean and paint, then rinse n repeat at the other end. My cradle has 3 cross beams and the keel normally sits about 8 inches off the ground. Our club will not let you paint at launch because we use a crane brought in for the day.

Sabre

[sabray]

no need to paint. I scare the sensible barnacles off by sailing into creeks I probably shouldn't. The rest get crushed when I learn my limitations. If you are brighter then I you will transfer the load with a bottle jack or such and adjust the stands or hit the spots when the lift gets you up.

[Claus Kjaerby]

At the end I let the boat hang in the crane last afternoon and night before launging while pinting the buttom af the keel, but it created some irregular pattern in the antifouling due du heavy pressure between sling and boat. I must admit that I had up to 7 layers of antifouling (experiment) some places.