Greetings Montgomery sailors. I just finished reconditioning the CB in my Potter and learned some things that may be useful to Monty owners with metal centerboards. I found out that it is common practice at many boat yards to coat metal keels with epoxy to protect them. While I had thought about doing this independantly, it's comforting to know that it does indeed work. Here's what I did:
1. Remove the CB so you can get to all of it (duh). 2. Sanded the board to remove loose rust, grunge and oxidized paint. 3. Used an automotive product that chemically fixes rust and simultaneously provides a primer. I believe there are several such products on the market. 4. Cleaned the board with denatured alcohol and put several coats of epoxy on by brushing. I managed three coats. Most authorities recommend 5-7 coats. I think they know how to put it on more thinly than I! I used West System's booklets for guidance, and RAKA epoxy. 5. After you're happy with the epoxy coating, apply paint of your choice. I used white rustoleum premium enamel because I have plenty of it and my boat never stays in the water more than 12 hours at a time. Plus, I only sail fresh water, although I hope that changes this summer :) 6. Reinstall centerboard (double duh) Functionally, the paint doesn't do much other than make it easier to see where you need to touch up your work in the yearly maintenance routine, unless you need an ablative of course. Epoxy is impervious to just about everything except UV...if your CB is getting eposed to UV, turn turtled boat back over ASAP to rectify! Hope this proves useful. Steve Tyree, P-15 #2098 "Amy Ann" _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
