Read on, Patrick

Posted by Robert N Pruden on Jun 18, 2005

You do indeed have to repair that damage or you will be spliting your keel as I did this year. Sand off the varnish, use acetone to soften it so you can see it better. The dust from the varnish will look yellow-beige. The epoxy dust is white so that you know the difference.

Once all varnish has been removed, I highly recommend you coat the bottom of the hull with a 10% graphite/epoxy mixture. Add at last three layers of this mixture to the bottom of the boat. Make sure to coat any aspect of the hull that gets abrasion damage. When you are done, the treated hull should appear totally black. The graphite is tronger than steel and will repel abrasive surfaces. One thing I did this year to harden my graphite coated hull was to add a little Cab-o-sil. The Cab-o-sil causes the epoxy to cure into a really hard surface. That, I expect, will further minimize abrasion damage to my hull. I do not have any pics of my hull right now. My boat is outside curing while wrapped in plastic (plastic holds heat so it cures faster). If I find time tomorrow I'll try to post a pic so you can see where I applied the coating. I pound the bejeebers outta my boats by running them up on ice pans in the winter and upon gravel beds and sandbars in the summer. The graphite does work.

If you opt to do this, do NOT put vanish on top of the graphite/epoxy - it won't stick because of the graphite. The graphite mix naturally protects the hull from UV brakdown so you won't have to worry about that problem.

Robert N Pruden

In Response to: new boat bottom trashed by patrick forrester on Jun 16, 2005

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