Keel down to bare lead

So last night and today, during the "snowpocalypse" of 2012, I found the time to get some work done on Mayhem!. Not that I don't have more than my fair share of actual paying work to get done at the office, but I have to admit, an unexpected snow day or two are needed once in a while. I guess that's why God gave us winter! (that and to give us time to get our boats out of the water for work and repairs). I am glad that Mayhem! was safe and sound under cover, not buried under 8 or 10 inches of snow... which is about what we had here at my place in Coupeville.

On to the project... After a brief consultation from my friend Mitch whose "been there, done that" I decided I needed to sand my keel down to bare lead to avoid any uncertainty with regard to the fairing compound I will soon begin applying to fair the keel (and rudder... thanks for the advice Kyle).

After using my random orbit sander and 60 grit to get off the ablative and a layer of what I believe to be primer, I came down to a thick pinkish coating that was applied directly to the lead. I assume this was some type of filler or epoxy used to cover up blemishes in the lead before painting but who knows. While I initially thought this could stay on, I was convinced otherwise and decided, if I've gone down this far, I may as well go all the way.

While the random orbit sander did a decent job on ablative paint and primer (and the occasional fiberglass blister) it just wasn't cutting the mustard so to speak on getting the pink filler off. My neighbor Greg loaned me a nice Dewalt angle grinder that he's been using on his project VW Bug. After a quick modification (removal of the safety guard) to make it more appropriate for my task, I set to it. Starting out with a 40 grit wheel was a bit much. As images of inch upon inch of fairing compound filling circular gouges in my keel danced through my head, I thought it best to switch to a slightly less aggressive wheel. I changed out to a 60 grit wheel and boy did this hit the spot. In about an hour and a half I had both sides of my keel down to bare lead. A quick once over with my random orbit and I've got a nice rough lead surface for my fairing compound to adhere to.

Should I be regrettably forced to stay home from work again tomorrow, I'll set to sanding the sides. I hope to be done with sanding the bottom and ready to move on to sanding some areas on the top by this weekend when Dan and I will have a Saturday morning work party. Pictures are below and also on the "Pictures" page.

The keel before sanding off ablative paint and primer.

The keel after sanding off paint and primer. What you see here is, I believe some type of filler.

The keel down to bare lead. At the top of the keel, where it meets the fiberglass hull, there is a section where it is "welded" together so to speak, with a fiberglass filler. I'll sand this down when doing the rest of the fairing.