Keel restoration

[Mark Williamson]

Time to restore the keel.  I picked up an angle grinder, abrasive pads, POR-15 Prep & Ready, a pint of POR-15 and a pint of POR-15 self-etching primer.  See this link for details on POR-15:  POR-15 Marine

[Mark Williamson]

Much easier than I thought.  The angle grinder with abrasive pad (specifically for paint removal) really did the trick.  Took almost two hours to get most of one side down to bare metal at which point the pad was shot.  I initially used a wire brush attachment with poor results.  If you do this make sure to wear a VERY high quality mask (I can't emphasize this enough) and eye protection.  Cover the ground thoroughly and check with the marina beforehand.  A tyvek suit with hood wouldn't be a bad idea either.

[Mark Williamson]

UPDATE:  Grinding the paint off took about five hours and almost 4 abrasive pads.  Sprayed it with POR-15 Prep & Ready, applied three coats of POR-15 and three coats of their self-etching primer.  I used slightly less than a pint each of the POR-15 and primer.  Did not do the bottom (yet?).

[Mark Williamson]

After primer coats:

[Mark Williamson]

IT DID NOT WORK...  I had the boat pulled after a summer in the water and the POR-15 and primer are flaking near the bottom and top of the keel.  It appears that it started coming off when they power washed it because there is only the lightest coat of rust on the exposed areas.  For some reason it did not adhere.  This I can't explain.  Thought I'd followed the instructions well enough.  It seems to have worked for other boat owners... but not me.  

The only positive is that it appears that it will be easy to get the rest off.  Time to start looking for a better solution...

[Dave F]

This is disappointing. I was following your post as I am planning the same job this spring. Did you ever read Capt Pauley's posting on rusty keels? Is this basically the same process you did?

http://www.thevirtualboatyard.com/2011/09/rusty-keels-.html#more

[Mark Williamson]

That's a similar process.  The makers of POR-15 recommend a few steps that I didn't take such as power washing and washing with a product they make called Marine Clean.  I didn't feel this was necessary since I'd just scoured it down to bare metal.  My next attempt will be more inline with that link.

[Mark Williamson]

Ready to try again.  I ground off the peeling areas and primed/painted with epoxy.  Most of the POR-15 seems to have stuck pretty well.  We'll see.

[AGKeppel]

This looks like the 9.0 model with the swing keel/centerboard.  Did you do anything about your centerboard when you were redoing the keel?  My dad has the 9.0 with centerboard and redid the outside of the keel and all the centerboard he could reach with it down while the boat was hauled a few years ago.  The keel has held up well, but the centerboard trunk and centerboard are in pretty bad shape to the point that the board stuck up this past season.  We tried to pull the board out this fall and have had no luck.  We pulled the pivot pin, and have gotten the front edge of the board down a few inches and the aft end down on the ground, but cant seem to get the front to come down any further.  Was hoping you might have some insider knowledge.  Thanks!  Andrew

[Mark Williamson]

It's the 7.60 but probably has a similar keel.  I've, thankfully, never removed the centerboard.  Like you, I can't imagine what else might be holding it. Good luck and let us know how it goes.  Also if you have details/photos of the pin removal that would be very interesting.

[Mark Williamson]

Here's an interesting site that i stumbled across the other day.  It has a nice engineering drawing of the centerboard assembly (of a 7.60).  It appears that the owner rebuilt the centerboard trunk to include a winch.  There are also some impressive photos of the boat beached against a sea wall at low tide.

http://kelt.voila.net/technikelt.html

[David]

Mark- I followed Petit's instructions for coating with their product after grinding the keel. That was about this time last year- maybe a little closer to May(ish). Launched in June after overcoating the Petit finish with a self-polishing anti-fouling. I hauled out last October with everything looking about 98%. I had 2 pinhole bleeds which I (lightly) spray painted with a rust paint immediately. Then overcoated with the anti-fouling (2 coats) on the sprayed portion.
This spring I will re-coat with anti-fouling after I remove the OMC Zephyr Saildrive and have all appropriate holes glassed over as I am re-powering with a Yamaha T9.9. If I didn't need to paint the new areas because of the repairs, she could go in the water as is. This winter has not had any adverse effect on the keel at all.
Good luck with your project.

[Mark Williamson]

Which Pettit primer did you end up using?

[David]

6980 Rustlok Steel Primer from Holland Marine in Mississauga. If they have it, they will ship it. Rettit recommend 3 coats on the cleaned up (as best you can- mine wasn't bare metal) metal. One litre/quart did my keel (Kelt 7.6- no daggerboard) about 2.5 times. It would have been nice to have a little more. If I would have had more, I would have painted until it was gone anyway as I would have no idea of how to dispose of a half empty can.
Covered it over with Interlux's self polishing Micron (2 coats) which is a bit of overkill, but I like that when I see the primer it's time to re-coat. It doesn't need to be touched right now, but because of the hull repairs and touch up paint required, I will give it another coat this spring anyway.
I notice West Marine carries it in their catalogue. Not sure if it would be shippable from USA. I'd check Holland Marine's stock first.

[Mark Williamson]

Here's a photo David sent me.  This is after haul out this year.  Looks great.

[Angel]

About the OMC Zephyr...what became of it ...looking for parts , the entire powerhead,  what do you have ??...email me at [e-mail] or call 9063617245

Thanks in advance
Angel

[David]

Believe the OMC was trashed, but it was left with the Marina owner at the time. I will be speaking with him this week and will enquire to confirm.

[David]

Confirmed with Marina that the OMC was recycled. Sorry, I know how hard they are to find which led me to replace with a Yamaha 9.9 on a bracket.