weeping ballast

[floatingkiwi]

I am gonna epoxy coat the ballast with interlux interprotect 2000E epoxy primer, at the recommendation of Svendsens.It keeps weeping spots of rusty water from countless pores. Shall I lght a fire under it to dry it out or just paint the thing?

[Jay Greer]

A pressure wash down with fresh water will, hopefully, remove a good portion of the salt. Salt is hygroscopic and will continue to absorb moisture from the atmosphere. Sand blasting, if not already done, will remove imbedded rust.
Following this with a wash down with acetone will absorb even more residual moisture. Heating pads and space heaters will be an aid as well. Building a fire under it will coat it with soot. Once you are satisfied that you have removed as much moisture as possible, coat the keel with Devcon-Z
http://www.rshughes.com/products/078143_12030.html
This can be followed by coating the keel with epoxy. Voids can be filled with epoxy and microballoons and sealed over with more epoxy.
Jay

[Vinny&Shawn]

It seems to me that if you don't get the epoxy,(is that what interlux 2000 is?), to adhere totally to the old iron it will delaminate, you must also have proper drying temps.
I thought getting the ballast keel clean and salt free,then coating with zinc chromate or red lead or both,then bottom paint, yearly haul out and cleaning (re-coat bottom) should keep you happy. Look closely at the Devcon-Z,it says water resistant. Epoxy is not always the answer!

[floatingkiwi]

Nice explanation, thanks. The surface WAS real bad. I chipped it all over with a blunt axe removing a lot of decayed material then hit it with a grinding wheel with a gnarly kotted wire wheel until it was black and shiny, then naval jelly then more grinding a week later, then paint stripper and more naval jelly, ( good stuff), and then gave it a good thick coat of zinc rich cold galv paint. I guess I should get the thing out of the weather and just keep goin, eh?
If it is still weeping slightly, when I am done with it,
will the epoxy paint fail?
Oh hi Vin I didn't see youi there. Yeah the 2000 stuff comes highly recommended by the store guy and the descripti0on written on the tin.

[floatingkiwi]

I just can't afford any other material right now. It has taken me a month to get the stuff I have, the hell, I am goin with it. I'll be takin her in and out regular anyways, I can keep an eye on things and fix them if needed when necessary.
P.S I am moving the thing into the workshop where I have an X army wood burner with, like, a big hotplate topp surface which I am gonna position a few millimeters below the center of the monolith and feed the stove with all the oak,( I discovered is full of some kinda beetle larvae), until she weeps no more.

[py]

I've heard of belly button fluff, but naval jelly???

[floatingkiwi]

yeah, are ya hungry mate?
Navel, Naval. It is a pretty good, odourless, reasonably harmless,( but don't eat it), solution to getting all that residual rust from where ya cannot reach and it can resist further rusting on a short term basis, before painting. You can get it at most peoples, frontal mid sections by taking as sp..... No..aaaah, yes,well OK then.

[BrianM]

Kiwi,

It sounds like you've been a heck of alot more thorough than I was. My method however, worked pretty well, and I've got 2 years on her before I checked the "results".

My boatyard doesn't allow media blasting of any form. I defaulted to two hammers and busted loose all the old bottom paint and large chunks of rust. I then used a device of which I forget the name, but it is like a wire wheel, except each "needle" is pivoted, and straight hardened steel. They whirl around on a hub fitted into your drill/grinder. It made short work of the rust. I was under a time constraint, so I went straight to the Coal Tar Epoxy minutes after the wheel (outdoors, San Rafael, October so Indian Summer). Bottom paint loved the Coal Tar Epoxy! Two years later, a few pinholes here and there.. basically perfect.

[floatingkiwi]

Thanks Brian. That is what I like to hear.If I did nothing at all...I mean... the thing has been sitting neglected for a decade and it wasn;t goin anywhere fast. San Rafael. eh? Need any sails? They fit an Ohlson 30