Boat Pox and Keel Templates

[Chris VoigtParticipant]

Each year when I pull Loki for a fresh bottom she would have more and more pox, none much larger than a pencil eraser.

This year I decided to strip the paint off, dry her out, and apply a barrier coat.

Pox were worst from the waterline down maybe 2-3′, but really appeared on all parts of the bottom. They were all wet when I sanded down below the gel coat but none of them squirted when I opened them. I places where the pox weren’t obvious when I first pulled the boat, I could see traces of holes in the older layers of paint, and when I sanded all the way down could see the little tiny pox hole in the glass.

I also had about 8 blisters on each side of the keel, those were maybe 3-4″ across. These guys definitely spewed crap out when I opened them up. Remember eye protection when you do this!

Stripping has really been a lot of fun (not!). There’s a combination of hard coat and ablative paints. She’s spent her life in both salt and brackish water – heck, maybe fresh too for all I know.

I’ve been sanding the paint off when it is cold. Chemical strippers only work when temps make it above 50, so I haven’t been able to use them much. If you have to do this, I highly recommend Soy Strip, though it takes time and warm temps to get it to work best. I used it in the horizontal parts of the bottom, which are real arm and back breakers with the sander. http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|2200442|2200458&id=1932637

I’m almost fully stripped, and I’m thinking about fairing the keel while I’m at it. Does anyone have a set of templates I could borrow?

Some pics of by pox are attached. Curious if anyone else has had to deal with this… for your sake, I hope not.

[Bruce HubbleParticipant]

Fill the holes/pox with epoxy filler and fair. Then barrier.

the keel is a HUGE job! The original keels used bondo for filler. The polyester filler is not suitable for continued water exposure. Dry sailing..fine. Be prepared to strip the keen entirely.

Someone in the last two years has done a keel. Search on this site.

[SWGKeymaster]

there are stations here:

http://www.olson30.org/the-boat/tips-and-tweaks/keel-thickness

i will see if i can turn them into something that can be used for making a template. stand by, might be a day or so. i will post on the keel page if i can come up with something useful.

you could also try to contact piotr, looks like he made templates.

http://olson30.tumblr.com/page/11

http://www.olson30.org/members/dr-sailboat/profile/

SWG

[Bill VosteenParticipant]

I did my boat’s bottom over 20 years ago. The best way to attack the pox is to sand blast them. It did an incredible job and will open up pox you had no idea were there and also remove all bad material deeper in the cavities. I highly recommend sand blasting. It doesn’t take all that long once you’re set up. I’m thinking I rented the sand blaster, I can’t remember where I got it. Check out the different abrasives, there are some that work better than others.

Once the pox are open, thoroughly wash them out and let them dry out completely before fairing, then multiply coats of barrier. I never had any sign of problems after this.

Good luck,

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