B Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Years ago John Leonard installed a much needed graphite embedded keel strip on one of my Gulfstreams. My Explorer is quickly becoming a victim of my need to play again. I tried to be nice to it for the first couple of years, but my rockfinding abilities have been rekindled.What does it take to embed the graphite?B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pm7771 Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Bob-In November when I had (your old) Sirius in Roger Crawford's shop - www.melonseed.com - he wet sanded it to bring back the beauty of the hull. Where the gelcoat had worn thru to the glass at its keel line, he mixed graphite into epoxy and painted a nice neat line of this - about 18-24" lone and maybe 1-1/2" wide. It looks super, and as opposed to the gel-coat, I can mix and reapply this epoxy mix myself as needed. Picture of the result on request Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 Hey! I resemble that remark! The strip is still there on said Skunk, though it has worn off in the middle and needs some work (maybe this weekend). Peter, is yours black as well?>Years ago John Leonard installed a much needed graphite >embedded keel strip on one of my Gulfstreams. My Explorer is Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Leonard Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 It's not so bad and it really isn't imbedded. There are two ways to do it.First, the strongest way to go (like the old gulfstream) is to add a fiberglass keelstrip. I used two in wide, 9oz fiberlgass tape. Lightly sand a strip down the middle of the boat, wet with some marine epoxy, lay the tape down the center (the epoxy will keep it in place to a degree), then wet it out (it will look translucent) with more epoxy. You could leave it like this or mix more epoxy and add the graphite powder then just fill in the weave of the fiberglass until it is smooth on top. The second method (what I think Peter has) is to just paint on a strip of epoxy mixed with graphite. You would just mask of a 1.5"-2" strip down the center of the keel and paint on a few layers of the graphite mixture. This would end up being better cosmetically, but not quite as strong. With both methods you could sand the edges down so that they blend into the hull instead of creating a hard ridge. I didn't bother on my pintail and it eventuall rubbed down (almost time for another keel strip). I have also tried using gellcoat to fill the weave of the keelstrip on my pintail and it didn't seem to hold up as well. I know gellcoat is pretty hard, but the graphite / epoxy mixture seems harder. Good luck,John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 >>First, the strongest way to go (like the old gulfstream) is >to add a fiberglass keelstrip. I used two in wide, 9oz >fiberlgass tape. Lightly sand a strip down the middle of >the boat, wet with some marine epoxy, lay the tape down the >center (the epoxy will keep it in place to a degree), then >wet it out (it will look translucent) with more epoxy. You >could leave it like this or mix more epoxy and add the >graphite powder then just fill in the weave of the >fiberglass until it is smooth on top. >Where do you get the graphite powder from??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Sylvester Posted April 2, 2004 Share Posted April 2, 2004 My understanding was that you should not use epoxy on a polyester (fibreglass) boat because there are problems with bonding due to the different compositions of the substances. Mr. Nystrom please chime in on this.................. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B Posted April 3, 2004 Author Share Posted April 3, 2004 You mean the Skunk boat still lives? Hey Dave, don't I still owe you a lesson for those tires?B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B Posted April 3, 2004 Author Share Posted April 3, 2004 If you've got the time I'll bring the Explorer. I've got the $$$. I'll make it worth your while! You can fix my neck gasket at the same time.Otherwise I was leaving the boat here for repair. I sure would love to have my own boat later in the week to run over the rear deck of that PT.B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Leonard Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs/store...1160&storeNum=4 West marinine carries it, but you should be able to get it at any marine store that sells epoxy and accesories. JL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Leonard Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 >>>If you've got the time I'll bring the Explorer. I've got the >$$$. I'll make it worth your while! You can fix my neck >gasket at the same time. >>Otherwise I was leaving the boat here for repair. I sure >would love to have my own boat later in the week to run over >the rear deck of that PT. >>B Tough call Bob... I don't have an indoor workspace so it would depend on the weather and temperatures. I would hate to see you bring the boat out here and not be able to do it due to the weather. If you bring it and the weather is good, I should be able to get it done though.JL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Nystrom Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 For blending the strip into the hull, using a scraper when the epoxy is still green* is faster and less messy than sanding after the epoxy is fully cured. For scraping fiberglass, carbide scrapers work best. Home Depot has them in the paint dept. for ~10. Sanding graphite impregnated epoxy makes an incredible mess (it's like sanding a giant pencil lead) and is best done by wet sanding outside, using copious quantities of water.If you prefer not to have a black stripe, white pigments that can be added to the epoxy are available at West Marine and other suppliers. If you want a tough, white rub strip, you can add Cabosil (fumed silica) to the tinted epoxy. It makes a very hard surface, but it's also a bear to sand, so you want to make sure and apply it smoothly and scrape it while it's still green.* For those unfamiliar with the term, "green" refers to epoxy that is partially cured. It's smooth and dry to the touch, but can still be indented with a thumbnail. It's soft enough to scrape easily, but hard enough not to be gummy or sticky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Nystrom Posted April 3, 2004 Share Posted April 3, 2004 Epoxy bonds fine to polyester and gelcoat (which is polyester based). Just sand the surface with 80-100 grit paper before application. I usually wipe the area with lacquer thinner, too, just to make sure there's no oily residue.Gelcoat is technically not supposed to bond well over epoxy. However, I've used it over epoxy repairs without problems. The key is that the epoxy must be fully cured (which can take several days) and the area must be thoroughly cleaned and sanded before applying the gelcoat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Yes sir, The skunk lives, though I think I will be paddling a Quest this season, paddled one yesterday and it fit like a glove. I am planning to do a bit of work on the skunk in the next week or two though, it is looking pretty rough, needs some definate work on the hull, including the keel strip.You know, maybe you do still owe me some water time! I have been silently watching your threads and trying to figure out if I am going to be able to catch up with you. I'll send you an email.Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B Posted April 6, 2004 Author Share Posted April 6, 2004 JLeft it behind. I don't want to take up any potential paddling days with it. You need to get out more. I'll fix it on return. For now, the JBWeld repair stick is doing just fine B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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