oak keel protection

[pirate]

just starting a hillyard restoration and having removed 1 garboard am cleaning up the oak keel ready to paint.Have read loads of books with one author coating any wood with boiled linseed oil!Is this a good idea or should I paint it.I am concerned with putting something on that prevents the hull from taking up.Also any opinions on lifting the hull of the iron ballast keel.Should I atempt this to paint/clean etc or leave well alone?

 

[RobinBirch]

Pirate

A useful link through to other Hillyard owners for 'technical' help
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/hillyards

 

[Peterduck]

Like you, I've read extensively about various aspects of boat maintenence. Each author has his (occasionally her) way of doing things, which they describe as The Only Way. Bowlocks! A priming coating which seems to be in widespread use is Red Lead. This has been my favourite. Here in Australia, it cannot be sold in retail swindleries, but if you go to the paint manufacturers, they'll happily sell it to you.
Peter.

 

[JesseLoynes]

Hi Pirate,

The first year we had our 6 ton Hillard, we stripped all the old antifould off the hull, and much of the primer too. We just went with 2 coats of a standard antifoul primer onto everything below the waterline before adding more coats of antifoul. With wooden boats there is a huge range of methods, and everywhere I've worked has had a different system. As long as the timber is well covered and the antifoul stays in place, everything else is fairly irrelevant. Salt water won't really cause much damage, and as you say, you want her to take up a bit, so sealing isn't a huge issue. So go for something simple and relatively cheap. Oh, and ask the locals wherever the berth is, different antifouls are most effective in different areas.

As for lifting her off the keel.... you're looking at a fairly lengthy process. Hillards gain a fair amount of strength and stiffness from that nice cast keel, so you'll have to be careful about supporting her. Also, it seems many boats don't naturally seperate from the keel. There's often a reverse angle at the deadwood, this means you need to draw every bolt completely before lifting the hull away, not simply remove the nuts and let it side away.

If you don't have problems with the keel, I'd suggest leave well enough alone!

As LaTouche mentions, the owners group is very helpful, there's several hundred years worth of combined ownership experience there, with some excellent advice.

Hope it goes well, and keep us updated.

Jess.