some questions after scraping the hull

[mbay]

I have just about finished scraping back the hull on my Westerly Pageant, I've been chipping away at it since November just popping down the boat and doing an hour or two here and there every week




On my previous boat I only ever rubbed the surface down with wet and dry and re antifouled, This time I've decided to go the whole hog but have some questions:

My last boat never had a boot topping this one has, is there any point in keeping it? I really don't see the point and how do you re-do the line below the water line once you've scraped it all away?



After I've finished completely scraping the hull will it still need a sand or have to be treated with a stripper to completely remove any left over residue before i apply a underwater primer (still undecided what to put on here some sort of epoxy based primer i was thinking)

The join between the iron keels and the hull has a sealant in it which apart from a bit flaking round the edges is still in quite good condition, should i dig it all out and reseal or just go over the top? i plan to fare this in with a epoxy based filler

 

[Tranona]

Boot topping is a matter of choice, mainly for aesthetic reasons. Easy to do as you have the top line in already. Use a boot top product as it will be part in and part out of the water. Do the boot top first then do another waterline your chosen distance below - usually about 3" - and then the main antifoul. Looks like your preparation is good enough to use a straight underwater primer such as International Primocon before the final anti foul. Suggest you don't use a hard filler in the join as it will almost certainly fall out or crack. Better to use a flexible sealer succh as Sikaflex.

 

[mbay]

Thanks' for the reply Tranona, there appears to be what looks like sikaflex in the keel join now I was only going to use the filler to "fair in" the join I did this on my last boat and it held up well, however the boat was a long keeler so probally not as much flexing as the bilge keels on the Pageant