GP14 Sailing Forums Forum Keel protection

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    • #25953
      Windychippy
      Participant

      I am wondering if any of the cruisers among you use a protective material on your Keel and Bilge Keels. I have the aluminium keel band on the keel but faired and painted. After all the trouble of  achieving a lovely painted finish on the bottom I’m looking to keep it that way as long as possible.  Force 4 sell Protective Keel Tape at £58 for 6 mtrs.  Has anyone used this tape or similar with success.  Thanks for replies.

      Dave R.

    • #25954
      Oliver Shaw
      Moderator

      I have just had a quick look at this product on the Force 4 website.

      I am not aware of any cruisers having found the need to use this,   but I can fully see your concern to preserve the pristine finish of your newly built boat.   My purely personal take on it is that a very great deal depends on the situations that you personally encounter where you sail.

      For what it is worth,  I commissioned a professional new build,  A Capella,  in 2005,  completed and delivered in 2006.   Suffice it to say that she was my pride and joy  –   and although I have much more recently passed her on to my godson,  as an advance on his future inheritance,  she still is my pride and joy;   we both regard her as “our” boat rather than as “his” boat.

      Her only protection to the keel is a standard aluminium keelband,  and (coupled,  of course,  with good seamanship) I have found that fully sufficient,  despite my home club being situated on a lee shore (in the prevailing winds),  and having a very shallow concrete slipway.

      When I had her back from my godson,  her current owner,  for a major refit over last winter,  the first time in 14 years that I had actually turned her over for attention to her bottom,  she required remarkably little attention to the keel and bilge rubbers;  nothing more than a little filler and sanding and a repaint.   The metal keelbands,  plus good seamanship throughout,  had done their job.

      However the seamanship,  in ensuring that I did not “graunch” the bottom when coming ashore,  is a crucial factor!

      So if you feel particularly at risk in your local sailing situation it may be sensible to invest in the quite modest cost of this Force 4 product;   but if you feel that your situation is more within the mainstream you probably don’t need it.

       

      Oliver

      • This reply was modified 11 months, 1 week ago by Oliver Shaw.
    • #25956
      Windychippy
      Participant

      Thank You Oliver for your feedback,

      The reason I’m asking is because I tried to launch for the first time last Friday with a seasoned crew-mate ( my first time sailing ). And for reasons I won’t go into as lessons now learned the dinghy ended up on it’s side on the slipway cracking the paint on a chine and chipping the rubbing strip. This has led to trying to obtain the original paints/varnish and a lot of phoning around different suppliers.  I remember your post from approx. 3 months ago regarding the withdrawal of the very 2 products I used on my Dinghy.  Thankfully having an account with Marineware Ltd. obtaining the Perfection Pro Paint in my RAL colour was not a problem ( only the pain in my wallet ) as only a few brushes worth of paint needed.  The Varnish Perfection Plus has now been discontinued as you previously stated and has been superseded by Perfection Pro Varnish only in 1 gallon tins + 1/2 gallon of hardener/activator.  Fortunately I had a small amount of the Plus Varnish but no hardener, after a word with some tech guy the activator from the Pro paint was used and this seems to have set hard so further pain to the wallet was avoided.  International paints advised me to use Toplac but without a vast choice of colours this would have meant painting the complete hull, they also advised using the Schooner Varnish.

      I am therefore very keen to avoid anymore damage to the extremities i.e. Keel and bilge keels/rubbing strips. Hence my original question. I have order the tape from Force 4 and will see how it performs.

      Thanks once again.

      Dave R.

      • #25957
        Oliver Shaw
        Moderator

        That sounds like a case of extreme bad luck,  and I commiserate with you.

        What an introduction to sailing;   and in a brand new boat in which you have invested so much labour and love,  not to mention expense!

        Hopefully that experience will prove to be only once in a lifetime!

        Oliver

      • #25958
        Oliver Shaw
        Moderator

        On a different aspect of this,  my understanding is that Toplac and Schooner are the two leading products amongst conventional paints and varnishes  –  although I fully accept that other marine paint manufacturers will probably have equivalents  –  and they come close to Perfection in terms of gloss,  and exceed it in terms of flexibility.

        But they are not quite as hard or as durable.

        So prior to the discontinuance of Perfection my recommendation (and I think International’s) was Perfection on new plywood construction (but International do not recommend it on carvel or clinker),  and Toplac & Schooner on old construction,  and also on carvel and clinker construction.

        Regards,

         

        Oliver

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