Keel Repair Product Advice

[Woodonglass]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

I'm not a Gelcoat pro but I'd say a couple of hours cure time and then wet sand with "Wet" Water (Water with several drops of Dish washing soap added.) I'd start with 220 or 320 grit and use at least a 10" sanding block. But again, I'm not a Pro so you might want to wait for them to respond.

 

[oops!]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

as soon as it cures...

by my watch...that should be right about now !

start with 289 grit on the really high places.....knock them down.

get the surface basicaly even and shaped......then go to a 320 grit......and finish the shaping.

once you have the shaps....go to 400.....and start knocking down all the final hi ridges....

at 400 you are still cutting....so dont go too close to the v or you will burn thru.

with 400 when most of the imperfections have gone...switch to 600.....

with 600 sand till all the imperfections are gone.

once gone......switch to 800 for polish mode....sand out any 600 sand scrathes.....then 100o then 1200 then 1500.

and buff with a cut polish.

sanding will only take an hour or so.....it wont take weeks or days....

one thing...the paper will load at first, as the wax will gum it up.......it gets better when the wax is gone

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

I am no expert like some of my friends that have already posted above, but, I would do things differently, especially with the amount of build up you have gooped up there. Did you put this on with a brush? Roller? Should be way smoother than that already without sanding.

Anyway, not busting your B&^%. Just pointing out for others that read this. With the goops you have created, there is always a chance of cracking in the gel or checking. I'm sure some here might disagree.

I would let the last coat sit overnite for 24 hrs, then start your sanding. Before you start sanding wipe the area well with acetone and then clean the area with dish soap and a spoung.This will remove the wax and your sand paper will not clog on you.

You can also use a da sander with film disks if you don't want to do it by hand. Should be no need to go past 1000 grit with the film disks , then polish and then wax if you like.

Also looks like there was a pretty good flat spot on the keel that wasn't showing in your pictures earlier in your posts. Things show up alot better when there white. You may want to strip that area back down and do layers of csm to build it up.

 

[jwl019]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

Chriscraft254, I was thinking along the same lines as you (letting it dry overnight). I did however decide to go ahead and sand the high spots/ridges with 220 grit sandpaper. I used a brush to apply the gel. I don't mind if you bust my chops on how great looking of a job I did, (years on active duty in Army and my family, I can take a good ragging/constructive criticism)! I think it looks so great that I am about to open a fiberglass repair shop! Not really, but considering that I have never done anything like this before and I am completly ignorant about this kind of stuff, I am happy that at least the gel is still on the hull and did not just fall off! Now if I can just get it to look better than what it did prior to the gel, I will be happy, and shouldn't take much being a skinned keel at the beginning! I will say that I was so nervous sanding and using the gel, that my hands shock the whole time, this step was the first time I have been relaxed and not to scared thinking I am about to really mess up a nice boat!


This pic is after sanding with 220 grit sandpaper, prior to me cleaning of all residue from sanding.

I know I have said it before, but I truly appreciate all ya'lls help! Thanks

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

Chriscraft254, I was thinking along the same lines as you (letting it dry overnight). I did however decide to go ahead and sand the high spots/ridges with 220 grit sandpaper. I used a brush to apply the gel. I don't mind if you bust my chops on how great looking of a job I did, (years on active duty in Army and my family, I can take a good ragging/constructive criticism)! I think it looks so great that I am about to open a fiberglass repair shop! Not really, but considering that I have never done anything like this before and I am completly ignorant about this kind of stuff, I am happy that at least the gel is still on the hull and did not just fall off! Now if I can just get it to look better than what it did prior to the gel, I will be happy, and shouldn't take much being a skinned keel at the beginning! I will say that I was so nervous sanding and using the gel, that my hands shock the whole time, this step was the first time I have been relaxed and not to scared thinking I am about to really mess up a nice boat!
View attachment 135573

This pic is after sanding with 220 grit sandpaper, prior to me cleaning of all residue from sanding.

I know I have said it before, but I truly appreciate all ya'lls help! Thanks

Truly wasn't busting your chops my fellow armed forces guy. (former Marine here) Next time use a roller and it will save you some sanding, its just like rolling on paint. The more even you get it to start with, the easier your job will be.

Your doing a great job and should not worry about messing anything up. The nice thing about gelcoating, is it can aways be sanded off and started over or sanded to a smooth finish and made to shine nicely.

You really are doing a great job and have listened to the experts way, and YD and Opps will not steer you wrong. Now get the finishing papers out and it will look like new. I would try 3m compound after the 1000 grit and see what it looks like. Still not smooth enough, go to the 1200 etc.

 

[oops!]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

the thicker the gell....the faster it will cure.....it is the this stuff that does not cure fast....

the gobs will just have to come off slowly or he will burn thru

a da is a great tool.....but if you aren't familiar with using one....you burn thru......even with 600

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

Looking good so far .

I would get the residue off and scribble some black marker all over the repair. Then with a moist ( not dripping wet ) acetone rag kinda smear around the ink. This will give you a guide coat so you know when to switch grits and/or to stop sanding in one spot.

Basically when most of the ink is gone..switch to 400G. After that you can go to 600g/800ish by Hand. Then buff.

I would say because the rest of the bottom has scratches .. I would not try to get All of the sanding scratches out. If you do Great ! But dont worry if you have a few left here and there

Good luck.

YD.

 

[jwl019]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

320 grit is complete. Now waiting for the rain to stop so I can finish the 400 grit.


Yacht Dr., you're probably right about trying to get ALL the scratches out, but I have already gotten most of them. When I start with the 600 grit, I am going to start sanding the whole bottom from the bunks to the bow. Hopefully this will remove some of the scratches and help blend it all together.

I will post another pic after the 1000 grit since you probably won't be able to tell a difference with the camera on my phone.

At these levels, does it matter if I wet sand or dry sand? With dry, at least I could see what I'm doing instead of just trying to feel any blemishes wet sanding.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

320 grit is complete. Now waiting for the rain to stop so I can finish the 400 grit.
View attachment 135671

Yacht Dr., you're probably right about trying to get ALL the scratches out, but I have already gotten most of them. When I start with the 600 grit, I am going to start sanding the whole bottom from the bunks to the bow. Hopefully this will remove some of the scratches and help blend it all together.

I will post another pic after the 1000 grit since you probably won't be able to tell a difference with the camera on my phone.

At these levels, does it matter if I wet sand or dry sand? With dry, at least I could see what I'm doing instead of just trying to feel any blemishes wet sanding.

Check out my refurbish thread, I just stripped the bottom paint and am restoring the bottom gel. If you want to dry sand, use a da sander "random orbital", not a rotary sander. You will want "film disks" if you are dry sanding. Start with 600, 800, 1000, then 3m compound. Then wax if you want to. You may even be able to start with 800 or 1000 since your hull is already just gelcoat with no deep scratches.

 

[jwl019]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

Finished late last night, will take pics of it with wax today hopefully after I buff it out.

Attached are the pics after using 1000 grit sandpaper.



From best I can tell, it looks decent, not professional. Still looks better than beforehand. The small transition on the keel gave me trouble where the keel comes up at an angle, then at a certain point, it changes to a different angle, right around that line is where most of my imperfections occur.

 

[jwl019]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

Pics of the finished product!


Thanks again for all the help, truely appreciate it!

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

Don't know how I missed it but great job on it. Looks perfect! Now that wasn't so hard was it,lol

 

[jwl019]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

Chriscraft254, wasn't hard at all with all ya'lls help! Would have never attempted without it. Still a long ways away from tackling projects like yours and restoring/rebuilding boats. If I do this again, I will definitely get the right tools, would have saved a lot of time and my arms. But I guess all that sanding helped get my arms in shape for ski season, since it is now here!

Thanks

 

[P10 WRC]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

hey man, good thread, i am in the process of this exact repair on my Maxum. How did you get the boat off the trailer? what did you support it with while doing this work? There are a few spots i cannot get to while the boat is on the trailer

 

[jwl019]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

hey man, good thread, i am in the process of this exact repair on my Maxum. How did you get the boat off the trailer? what did you support it with while doing this work? There are a few spots i cannot get to while the boat is on the trailer

P10, I jacked the boat up using jack stands with a short 4x4 on top pf that with at least a 2-3 foot 2x6 on top of 4x4.
I lowered the trailer tongue all the way down to the ground, then blocked the back end. Then raised the front end with a combination of a scissor jack and trailer jack until it was raised up high enough to give me plenty of work room (should have raised it even higher to keep from being in some very uncomfortable positions sometimes!). I think I used a total of 5 stands, 2@ each corner and 1 in the middle somewhere.

Not to bad of a project overall!

 

[tfret]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

The keel of my boat looks virtually identical. I've never used gel coat before. Not sure what pva is? Can I get a simple kit with everything I need to repaint the keel? I have a bunch of 435 layup resin. Could I simply coat it well with that? Then I could put a keel gaurd on to prevent further damage.

 

[jwl019]

Re: Keel Repair Product Advice

tfret, maybe some of the pros will come along and give you better advice, but here's mine.

You could either slap the keel guard on the way it is and call it a day, or you can do it right and then not even have to have a keel guard unless you just want one for protection.

The gel coat way for me was the best way, and I did not put a keel guard on after mine. The Spectrum gel kit matched pretty close at first and now after taking the boat out a couple times, you cannot even tell a difference.