Keel and Bottom Work: Before and After

Before and after pics for comparison:

On the way out ...

Headin' back in ...

The Keel:

Before ...

A week of rain meant that I ran out of time before I could finish fairing the keel ... next time.

The Rudder:

Next haul out I will have to invest the energy I put into the keel into the rudder. The starboard side is still wet and will require cutting out the whole side and relaminating it. Alas. 

All told I am glad this job is over ... for now. Hopefully I will get a decade out of the barrier coat!

Keel and Bottom Work Procedures

Keel and Bottom Work Procedures


The Complete Procedures:

• Keel Preparation: Stripping the Keel

• There is no easy way to do this, unless you have access to and permission from the boatyard to use a sandblaster. This would probably require you to tent off the boat.
• Cover the ground and use vacuum hoods on power tools for environmental reasons.
• Chip and scrape as much as possible with an old chisel and stiff scraper, being careful when you are working near the joint and fiberglass stub.
• Using an angle grinder (with dust hood) and sanding disks, sand off as much as possible. This step will take the longest and remove the vast majority of the remaining material.
• Using and angle grinder with a course wire wheel clean up what remains and try to get to bare metal wherever possible. Make sure you remove all rust.
• Immediately before applying the epoxy barrier coat, do a quick but thorough sanding with an orbital sander and course paper (30-40 grit) to take off the inevitable (and unseen) oxidation that begins immediately when iron is exposed to oxygen.
• Dispose of collected material properly -- whatever that means. In my case, I collect it in a 5 gallon bucket and dispose of it when our local county landfill collects hazardous waste.

• Keel: Applying the Barrier Coat

• The steps below must be done quickly as oxidation is occuring while you wait.
• Having removed the flash oxidation with the sander, clean surface of dust with tack rags.
• Wipe the entire surface with acetone to remove oils and water.
• While the acetone is drying, begin to mix your unthickened epoxy. Mix thoroughly!
• Apply epoxy to a small area (2 sq feet or so) with a foam brush or roller, being sure to get into all the pits and crevices.
• Scrub the area with a wire brush to increase the epoxy's contact with the metal. 
• Tip off the wire brush marks with vertical, then horizontal brush strokes.
• Repeat the last three steps until the entire keel is coated.
• Subsequent coats may be applied right away, as long as the epoxy hasn't cured completely. Otherwise before applying the next coat you will need to scrub off the amine blush with a green scotch pad and dry if off, being sure to collect all the waxy blush residue.
• As you go through this process and the epoxy begins to cure be sure to keep an eye out for drips and sags. Unthickened epoxy, especially on a hot day, is VERY runny.
• After two or three coats, begin to fair the pits and crevices with epoxy thickened with your favorite fairing compound. (I use west systems 407 as it sands easily but still has some structural strength to it). Let fairing coat dry.
• Sand your fairing coat smooth and clean the surface with tack cloths and acetone as before. Recoat with unthickened epoxy. Note: if there are really deep pits you may have to do this a couple of times to fill the holes.
• You will need a total of 5-6 coats of epoxy to thoroughly protect the iron from oxidation and galvonically isolate the iron from the copper in the bottom paint. Remember to wash the amine blush off the surface before painting.

• Sealing the Keel to Hull Joint

• Scrape out as much of the old sealant as you can reach with your favorite pointy tool.
• Clean the area in and around the joint thoroughly -- no dirt, no oil, no rust.
• Douse the joint in acetone to remove moisture that may linger deep within.
• Tape off both sides of the joint to ensure a neat edge. (This allows you to be really sloppy with applying and smoothing the new sealant.)
• Using 3M 5200 and a caulking gun, apply a thick bead of sealant along the joint. Be sure to squeeze as much sealant into the joint as you can.
• Smooth off the sealant while it is still wet and sticky (wear latex gloves!)
• Remove masking tape and allow sealant to dry (up to 7 days)

• Fairing the keel to hull joint.

• Take this advice/procedure with a grain of salt. As iron is obviously not flexible and fiberglass is, I suspect there is some flexing in the joint. Fairing over the joint with thickened epoxy thus has two problems; if the hull flexes at the joint the epoxy will crack, and I am not sure how well epoxy will adhere to the 3M 5200.
• If you fair the areas above and below the joint only, you would be able to monitor to state of the joint at every haul out. If you cover it, who knows. The down side is it will not look or perform as well as covering the entire joint.
• My (unproven) solution to this dilemma was to use West Systems GFlex epoxy, thickened with fairing compound to cover the joint and blend the keel seamlessly into the hull.
• The procedure is identical to the fairing process above.

DON"T FORGET THE BOTTOM OF THE KEEL! 

(Although there is not much you can do about the area where the keel is resting on the blocks -- unless you want to pay the yard to hoist the boat on the lift while you work on those areas. That can get really pricey as the yard will charge by the hour for the use of the lift.)

I won't go into detail about how to paint the bottom as this is covered extensively elsewhere online.

Keel, Rudder and Bottom Work

Before any work

The culprrt: poor maintenance of the forward
part of the joint allowed water to penetrate along the length of the joint.

(All images @ https://picasaweb.google.com/113905172205315068165/ElizabethKeelAndBottomWork)

The big job at hand is to strip the keel back to bare metal, apply an epoxy barrier coat, reseal the keel/hull joint and fair and paint the whole mess (including the entire bottom). The rust visible on photos above is nothing to worry about, just surface rust. It does, however, indicate that the old barrier coat has failed. I received a quote from Oak Harbor Marina to strip, barrier coat and paint the keel --  a mere $2400. So I will, obviously do the work myself. Alas.

Armed with hammer, chisel, scraper, random orbital sander, angle grinder, shop vac, dremel, safety glasses, hearing protection, and respirator I set to the job of stripping the keel of all the old material. This is a seriously SLOW and laborious task. It would go a lot faster with a sandblaster, but the yard won't allow it.

The First Weekend

After most of a day's work I managed to expose the keel/hull joint and chip away at some of the old barrier coat. The joint was faired with a material that looked a lot like Bondo. It adhered tenaciously to both sides of the joint, but not over the area of the joint itself. Ranging from 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch thick it took  a couple of hours of careful chiseling to expose the joint.

The surveyor was right, the polyurethane sealant in the joint remained intact, except at the forward end. My worries about moisture getting to the keel bolts was unfounded. I used the hook scraper to dig out as much of the old sealant as I could reach, leaving just some detail sanding necessary before applying a new bead of 3M 5200. I will prep the joint on both sides of the keel before sealing the joint.

After a couple of days of VERY slow going with lousy sandpaper and  lots of hammering and scraping, I decided to purchase a dust hood for my angle grinder. With the grinder I can use a wire brush. I am hoping this will go faster.

The Rudder: Day 1

I also began the repairs on the rudder. The starboard side of the rudder had a couple of wet spots with one serious area of delamination. I did a quick sand job just to expose the high points, then drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom of the rudder and a couple on the top to allow the water to drain. Water flowed as if the faucet was left on! I let it run for a day and on day 2 started to cut out the areas of delamination. I was surprised to find no fiberglass cloth or matting -- just thickened epoxy. Below the skin is a very dense foam material. I hope when I relaminate the cut out areas the epoxy will adhere to this stuff!






After 4 days ... damn this is slow going. Found the fastest method was to remove as much as possible with a hammer, chisel and stiff scraper. This will get off most of the old barrier coat without creating too much dust. Then the angle grinder with a sander attachment will do the most of the rest. Finally finish off with a wire brush. The orbital sander is worthless.

September 17 2011

After a week finally a coat of epoxy is on the port side of the keel and progress is being made on the starboard side.

September 24 2011

Two weeks later and both sides have at least one coat of epoxy and the keel/hull joint is sealed with 3M 5200.

Before any work on the starboard side

Starboard side -- joint sealed and fairing begun

Taped the joint for a neat joint line

October 5 2011

Almost a month later and the keel, hull and rudder are as done as they are going to get. At some point you have to give up on perfection and recognize you are out of time. And boy did I give up on perfection! The keel has been stripped, the joint refreshed and the area has been (somewhat) faired. More time and I would have made a perfect fairing job of it. Alas.

After one coat of bottom paint ...

And The final product ... after two coats of bottom paint.

Haul-out at Washburns Boat Yard: The Work Begins

I never grow tired of watching big machines do big work.

Sailing Her Home: Baltimore to Solomans Island

Sixty-nine nautical miles, a full tank of diesel and light southerly winds forecast -- not a great scenario for a sail. Still, my brother in law was available to help me sail her home and we had to go for it -- even if it meant motoring the whole way. Thankfully my sister was up for driving us to Baltimore, an hour and a half away from home in Southern Maryland.





We got off to an early start, departing Oak Harbor Marina around 7:30 am. The winds were non-existent and we had an easy motor out into the Bay. As we headed toward the Bay Bridge the southerly winds began to pick up. Unfortunately, the wind speed indicator was not working so we were not really sure just how much. By the time we got to the bridge we were motor sailing and making about 6 knots.

By this time we should have put a reef in the main, though it was not obvious yet. Steve and I took turns at the helm, with Steve carrying the larger burden while I played deck monkey. This being her first sail for a couple of years the tackle was stiff and everything was new to us. Fortunately a sailboat is a sailboat and there are only minor details to be sorted. For example, I didn't at first realize she had two-speed winches! Alas.

The waves were getting bigger but Elizabeth sailed very well. Her sails have all been refurbished and held excellent shape. Turns out her original owner must have taken her sailing performance rather seriously, despite the family cruiser design of the boat.




11 hours later and we were entering the Patuxent River. Things were a bit hairy now. We were definitely overpowered and thundering through 6 foot waves. We were over heeled which slowed us down and the weather helm was massive. Fortunately, Steve was at the helm and held her firm. As we motored up Cuckold Creek, Elizabeth's new home, Steve commented that it was a "spirited" sail. A bit much for me! I'd have opted for more control, less heel and greater comfort, but I guess that is why I am into cruising and not racing.

Looking straight down. Thank God for the cooler!

The trip took 12 and a half hours, beating into the wind and averaging more than 6 knots the whole way - with a couple of moments where she passed 8 knots! (Ok, that was surfing down a 6 foot wave where we immediately lost 4 knots when we became sandwiched in the trough!)

I did not get my land legs back until the next morning. A spirited sail indeed.

The Purchase

There was little exciting about the purchase. It took longer than I would have hoped and a brief snafu regarding HIN numbers almost delayed it longer. In the end it was uneventful.

I would say that if you can swing a loan, now is not a bad time to buy. There are many boats out there that owners can not afford to keep. Elizabeth was one of them, but only because her owner moved to Texas. In the end, the deal worked out well for both of us. The previous owner was out only insurance, transport and storage fees. My final price of 14k was exactly what he paid for the boat when the recession first began. It is still 7k below market value for this area.

Survey Day

Having made a formal offer on Elizabeth, the next step was to get her surveyed and take a real close look. I arranged for the survey to be done on 28 July by Lon Acheson. Again, I was especially concerned with moisture in the deck, the state of the keel bolts and the viability of the drive train.

Deterioration at forward end of the keel

Because the keel to hull joint was mostly covered with paint and filler I could not judge the state of the seal, nor guess if the keel bolts might have been affected. I was pleased when Lon expressed his opinion that the crack along the length of the joint probably came from the deterioration at the bow -- water was then forced from the bow down the joint. The seal beneath was probably intact, and thus the keel bolts unaffected. Good news -- major expense averted.

Soft spot between hatch and mast

The next big concern was the soft spot in the deck. Clearly there was delamination and probably rotten core beneath. As the soft area was about 2 feet square, this was no small thing. Lon ran his moisture meter all over the hull and found no moisture, nor evidence of blistering. The deck, on the other hand, did not fare so well. In addition to the known areas around the bent stanchion and forward of the mast, moisture readings were high along the side decks and outboard of the genoa sail tracks. A lot more moisture than I anticipated! Red flags were popping up everywhere. I asked Lon what his opinion was and he felt that the deck had years of life left in it. He had seen decks much worse and felt that it could reasonably be treated as an ongoing maintenance issue. First seal all the many ways that water can get into the core, then attempt to dry out the core. The possibility of extensive rot in the core was lessened by the relatively airtight and cold environment. That the boat hailed from Rhode island was to its benefit, as the colder weather would inhibit the growth of wood eating bacteria and fungi.

Was pleased to find new updated seacocks throughout

The last area of concern was the state of the drive train. I had arranged to launch the boat for a quick test on the engine and the owner arranged for the yard to commission her. The sea trial lasted about an hour whle we motored her out of Rock Creek to the Patapsco River and back. Lon ran a number of tests and was very pleased with what he found. There were absolutely no leaks anywhere and the engine ran like a top. At full RPM's the boat was moving a little more than 7 knots with the transom and exhaust submerged. Elizabeth was definitely not underpowered. At the helm for awhile I felt Elizabeth really wanted to move. She certainly had the most responsive helm I have ever felt -- like a car, turn the wheel the boat turned ... instantly! That will take some getting used to and probably suggests the need for an autopilot in the future.

So all told the survey and seatrial went well. All her systems were operational, and apart from the work on the keel and moisture in the deck appeared to be in good nick. I lowered my offer by a thousand dollars as I anticipated this was what I would have to pay to get the keel in shape, assuming I did the work myself. The owner agreed to pay half and we settled on a final price of 14K. Still nervous about the moisture in the deck I figured I could take that on as an ongoing maintenance issue considering how solid the rest of the boat was.

Elizabeth First Gilmpse

I had been watching Elizabeth online for about a year. Originally she was priced in the 20K range and so was a bit out of my league, though not by much. After the Pearson deal fell through I looked again and she was down to 15K. Now we were talking. I went to see her on July 13th, fully six months after I first started looking for a new boat.

I only spent about two hours looking over her and knew she was the one. The asking price seemed about right, about 3 grand below blue book and I figured she had about 3 grand of work needed to get her seaworthy again.

Her story is short -- she was purchased in Rhode Island and was sailed extensively by her original owner. About a year and a half before I found her she was purchased and trucked to Baltimore. Her new owner intended to fix her up and live aboard. Sadly, he lost his job and had to relocate to Texas where new employment awaited. He did not want to truck her down there. So she sat on the dry for a year and a half, untouched.

The soft spot is between the hatch and the mast.

Looking her over I had only two concerns: the viability of the drive train and moisture in the deck. The drive train was, as before, a required condition of any offer. There was already evidence of moisture in her deck - a large soft spot just forward of the mast. There was a hole in the deck that was not well sealed and water had obviously found its way in. There was also a spot where one of the stanchions was bent and the lamination around its base had cracked and lifted -- there was obviously water there, though no delamination. I figured where there is a little water there is a lot of water.

The condition of the keel was also a concern, as rust was showing through the bottom paint and there was a crack along the length of the hull to keel joint. I worried that the joint was compromised and perhaps the keel bolts would have to be replaced. The bolts are stainless and looked good in the bilge, but crevice corrosion at the joint was a real possibility.

Overall she was in better shape than the Pearson, and I reasoned worth the few gran more I would pay for her. I offered 14.5K for her.

The Story Begins ...

Seamew Sail #63

After three years of living on a 23' sailboat with 4 feet of headroom and nowhere to go, I finally had enough. Ok, the winters did it. Talk about cabin fever! Can't stand up, can't walk, can't play the guitar -- just stuck as on an eight hour flight every day after work. So the search began in March for a new (to me) boat.

I do, however, love the Seamew. She is unique and has real character -- not just another production snot (fiberglass) production boat. With a mahogony on oak frame and mahogany trip, when in good nick she is a beaut. Keeping her up to snuff has proven to be more than I can handle. I need to keep her out of the water and undercover for part of the year to protect the finish and reduce maintenance.

I had been looking online for a couple of years, just to dream. Now, despite the recession, I find my finances are in better shape than they have ever been -- as long as I remain healthy and employed; two factors over which I have no control and thus do not worry about. I decided on a price range between 10K and 20K. My needs were clear. As a livaboard I wanted enough headroom to stand upright, the ability to walk a few steps, enough room to practice the guitar and the violin, a toilet and an oven. A shower, a gas oven, refrigeration, hot water and a cabin heater would be nice as well. As a sailor I wanted a shallow draft boat, between 30 and 35 feet, that was capable of cruising the Chesapeake and the short offshore stints associated with the intracoastal waterway.

Aurora: Pearson 323

I eventually found a 1978 32'  pearson that met the bill, was the right price but needed considerable work. I made and offer, had her surveyed and all went well -- except the motor would not start after having sat for a year and a half. My one condition on the offer was that the drive train prove viable as while I don't mind restoring systems and fiberglass work, I did not want the significant expense of repowering a boat right away. Surprisingly there was NO moisture in the hull and deck and she had most of the system I wanted in a  livaboard installed. The hull was a veritable ecosystem of critters, however, and would require s significant amount of work. The deal fell through after months of stalling when I finally spoke to the contracted engine mechanic and discovered that there was a problem with the injection pump. That was a deal killer. So off I went looking again. Fortunately I had a a backup ...