Sealing ballast pigs.

Gordonmc

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Dear folks,

The trimable ballast in my Hillyard consists of cast iron ingots. They rust.
Not much of a problem apart from the permanent rust streak down the topsides below where the bilge pump discharges... and a permanent layer of rust covering the bilge itself.
I thought of replacing (next time I lift the floors) with lead, but that seems prohibitively expensive.
So, if I remove the iron, chuck a few of the ingots at a time into a cement mixer with a bucket of sand I will have reasonably rust free ingots.
Question: What to seal them with. Paint would not last... I think pitch or bitumen is the traditional answer but that would create a bigger mess. I thought of waxoyl, left to go off completely before replacement.
Any more ideas?
 

Mirelle

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That is the best idea, combining both the others

Clean, epoxy pitch, wrap in DENSO tape.

A plumber's merchant should have it, failing which any ship chandler will sell you half a mile.
 

Mirelle

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Not so simple

There are two problems with this otherwise excellent plan.

First, most galvanisers will refuse to accept cast iron that has been exposed to sea water; it is impossible, I gather, to get a good coating on it, even after expensive shot blasting.

Second, it is not so cheap - galvanisers charge by weight!
 

Johnjo

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Re: Not so simple

When I had my wooden fishing boat I used steel punchings as ballast..

These were placed in sections of car innertubes with the ends closed with strong cable ties, then the excess trimmed off afterwards....

Maybe you could possibly do the same with the ingots.......
 

Peterduck

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A very effective way to remove the rust is to immerse the pigs in a 10% solution of molasses and leave them there for a week or two. Once they are clean then apply a coat or two of bituminous under-car-body sealer from a motor spare parts shop.
Peter.
 
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