keel refinishing

[karista]

Just hauled the boat for a new bottom coat and found that a good portion of the finish on the keel was gone, exposing the lead. Would re-coating the lead exposed area with a epoxy layer be sufficient or would I need to apply fairing compound?    

[Gary Wilson]

I think the choice of fairing out the keel before you refinish it is a question of how important boat speed is to you.  If you are an avid racer, it might ba a good idea, as it would minimize the turbulence of the water as it passes by the keel.

[Roc]

Check out the West System booklet.  They will send it to you for free.  My keel had a small area where the fiberglass had chipped off.  I used the West System to seal up the area where the lead was exposed.  Then painted over with bottom paint.  The West System has certain additives to the epoxy base, so you need to choose the correct additive.  Don't just use plain epoxy.

[sselinger]

Last year I had a big piece of the front edge of the keel come off. May have been to an impact with something. Due to it's location on the leading edge of the keel I felt it was mandatory to refinish. I filled most of it with fiber glass and resin and then final faired it with 3M fairing compound made for below the water line. If you make a big, mine was 18inch, flexible sanding board, it's really easy to do this your self and get a very good finish. After using VC tar and then VC17 bottom paint, it looked better then new.

Give it a try.