Re: Advice Sought on Refinishing Centerboard

William Longyard (longyard@ix.netcom.com)
Mon, 01 Feb 1999 16:38:33 +0000


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West Wight Potter Website at URL
http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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Sand it with 80 grit to a reasonable finish, then HAMMERITE it.
Hammerite, which I've mentioned before here, is the next best thing to
galvanizing, much cheaper, and easily repairable. It's what they paint
the North Sea oil rigs with. Very touch paint that can be brushed, or
sprayed. Impregnated with millions of glass beads for durability.

Bill Longyard
Winston-Salem, NC

David Kautz wrote:
>
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> West Wight Potter Website at URL
> http://www.lesbois.com/wwpotter/
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> Yesterday afternoon I decided that the time had come to remove and
> refinish the centerboard of my P-15, something I've wanted to do since I
> bought the boat about 9 months ago.
>
> My P-15 was built by HMS sometime around 1987, I'm told. It is one of
> the variety that has a painted steel plate and also has two concrete
> blocks in the bilge. I weighed the centerboard once I got it out and
> it's just over 70 lbs. One of the concrete blocks was already loose and
> the other needed only a little persuasion so I weighed them too - the
> pair are 23 lbs. So, combined, I'm not too far from the advertised
> 100lbs.
>
> I'm tempted not to replace the concrete blocks. Positioned where they
> were, it was near impossible to sponge water out of the keel recess
> where it collects in front of the CB trunk. I think it has been
> mentioned that both the earlier AND later Potters do without the
> concrete "pigs" - is the centerboard heavier in those boats? If the
> ballast is really necessary, what about replacing the concrete with
> something else that could be removed quickly to dry the bilge?
>
> The motive for refinishing the centerboard is, of course, because it is
> rusty. The rust is primarily concentrated in two places - the bottom tip
> where it has struck things and around the slots cut for the pivot. This
> second area was rusted so badly I had a tough time getting the
> centerboard to disengage from the pivot pin. There was enough corrosion
> in the normally unused portion of the slot that it had gotten too small
> to allow the pin to pass through. Some scraping and a lot of
> back-and-forth and it eventually succumbed.
>
> I've stripped the old paint off, Naval Jellied and ground out the rust
> ane now have a bare steel centerboard in my garage. The question I have
> is "What to do next?":
>
> Paint it like before and repeat this exercise in 10 years?
>
> Scrap it and buy a brand new galvanized one from IM?
>
> Try and find some one who could "hot-dip galvanize" my present CB
>
> Spray it with the "galvanize-in-a-can" stuff?
>
> I'm curious whether anyone has experience with that last item. The
> manufacturers claim that their product is in excess of 90% zinc after it
> dries and will work as a sacrificial anode the way that conventional
> galvanizing does. Is this for real? Will the stuff adhere?
>
> Anyway, if those of you who have done this project (or one like it)
> before could help me with some advice, it would be much appreciated.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Dave Kautz
> P-15 #1632 "Tilly Lucy"
> Palo Alto, CA