Hammerite on keels of the "dead Centaur"

What they both said!

As my American mates would say "Go large or go home!"

where is the boat

and if you think I am going to fork out 8K and still end up with an engine that is a liability

played that game... not gonna do it again

I was a happy outboard man for 35 years

then I strayed across to the inboard blackmail area

spent five years propping up an old volvo - wet bilges - perpetual smell of diesel and fear

unhappiest sailing moments of my life

i lost 20 summer weeks afloat

happy back with outboards again

nirvana

I have five available

and ebay offers more good ones any weekend of the year

so engine woes are not ever going to keep off the water ever again

I would be a very grumpy sad man if one of you blighters talked me into an old inboard and I would up sitting in some god forsaken scottish harbour with a dead volvo sitting malevolently in its pool of oil, grease, seawater and diesel.

the right boat will turn up

I have 12 weeks to go until plan C becomes plan A

thanks chaps

screwfix angle grinder now on the list of costs if I buy one with horrible keels

hammerite now off the list

D
 
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If you're going the angle grinder route Dylan just make sure the RPM of the one you buy matches the wire brushes you plan to use. Ask me how I know...
 
Hammerite is serious rubbish nowadays, 2 pack tar or Rustoleum is the way to go, if at all. Surely it is up to your volunteer helpers to choose their weapons of choice?
 
If you're going the angle grinder route Dylan just make sure the RPM of the one you buy matches the wire brushes you plan to use. Ask me how I know...

This can indeed be a problem, but I now often use a drill speed controller on my angle grinder. It was perfect when I used it to cut up the plastic roofing sheets for my shed roof.
 
I have tried various coatings on keels, including everything available in chandleries ( I used to work in one so got a discount ) - I can only say go for Dulux Pro Metalshield, it's way and above anything else I've tried inc Hammerite which I was distinctly underwhelmed by, and yes the mild steel & cast iron were prepared correctly.

Metalshield is one part, but requires it's special one part primer.

No connection.
 
I had to work on some ancient gates. wrought iron with serious rust. A knotted wire cup brush on the big angle grinder was fairly effective. All brushes have the max RPM on them. This was 7000 for a 6000 grinder. ( the style is a series of twisted cables in a circle) Wire brushes on a drill just polish the rust, as mentioned. And are SLOW. I agree with Hammerite, new formula is carp. I sprayed some gates with the old stuff. Recoat within 20 mins or wait 2 weeks. All to do with the drying cycles, as the surface 'quick' drying formed a film, which stopped the base layer going off if another film was applied after the limit. The real drying time was weeks, not minutes.
 
I had a Centaur for a number of years, and keel rust was an on-going problem. Tried Primocon without success. However, I used a wire brush to get most of it off and then used Jenoseel, which was designed to work on oil rigs apparently. This was much better, and lasted several seasons, and I would use it again without hesitation.
 
I had a Centaur for a number of years, and keel rust was an on-going problem. Tried Primocon without success. However, I used a wire brush to get most of it off and then used Jenoseel, which was designed to work on oil rigs apparently. This was much better, and lasted several seasons, and I would use it again without hesitation.

Looks good to me

http://www.dgprotective.co.uk/page20.html
 
I use 60 grit linishing pads on grinder does serious damage to scabs you need good mask and eye protection especially with old antifoul get it as flat as possible and finish off with a rust converter I use vactans. Dont bother with deep pitting unless you are a racer could use International Watertite expensive but probably the best.
 
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How about Mathys Noxyde it Is rust inhibiting and will give a good service. I tried a needle gun on my keel, worked better than a wire brush but with cast iron you don't know where to stop, with steel plate you may have more luck. I use red oxide.
 
Sounds worse than it is, just a byproduct of making gas out of coal and ending up with coke ( not the recreational variety) and tar. About £30 a gallon if memory serves. Ebay is lacking in this department clearly....

Coal tar is very carcinogenic - look up pitch warts, tar warts or hydrocarbon keratosis. Given that creosote has been banned, I would be very surprised if coal tar was available to the casual user.
 

Looks like good stuff I am guessing it is a Tannic acid based rust converter:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_converter

I have used various ones at home normally its Fertan http://www.fertan.co.uk/ just cause its easy to find locally.

My suggestions for bilge keels or under water ferrous metal:

1) Needle gun (or for Nigel needle scale)
2) Wire cup brush,
* Note steps 1 and 2 can be replaced or done better with careful use of a a grinder.
3) Rust Converter as above or any other you choose 2 coats.
4) Primer 2 coats or 3 or more if you wish.
I have subsequently coated the primer with other coats of suitable paint as old gloss, masonry paint, my view is the you want a few coats to try and keep the water out.
5) Antifouling

Should not be to expensive or time consuming.
 
Sorry, painting the keels? I thought you were made of better stuff than that! A quick pass over with a spade to remove the worst of the barnacles and a lathering with the cheapest antifouling money can buy, or better still, you can blag.

As you say, you have 12 weeks left to prevaricate. These should be spent sailing your chosen victim back from whatever windswept nook you find her, not in working on the thing! After all, it only needs to float for a season or so and it will have persisted in much its current condition for the best part of twenty of the last forty years, another season won't make much difference.

Should the keels leak then it may be worth gluing a strip of rubber over the joint or something equally cheap and quick. Mine leaked quite badly when first relaunched after years ashore, but took up fully after a few months. They had been previously dropped & reinforced etc. but Westerly originally did the real job of sealing on a bolt-by-bolt basis with hemp etc, not relying on the mastic twixt hull and keel that seems to be the vogue nowadays.
 
removing rust

angle grinder then

weapon choice

http://www.screwfix.com/search.do?f...From=&priceTo=&priceFilterOn=&fh_view_size=20

any suggestions for screwfix stuff

Hit the scabs with a hammer to remove the flaky stuf then angle grind or:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-fla...p=Search-_-SearchRec-_-Area1&_requestid=27312

either will leave it smooth enough to take paint and antifoul.

I tried my Trail Sailer on the sea with VC Tar on it for a season, it had been OK the previous year when we had a 2 week cruise on the Clyde. It wasn't a sucess, you deffinitly need antifoul for what you are doing.
 
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