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Just been poking around near the stern gland and pulled off, what look to me, like large chunks of rust almost looks like a sheet of rust I would guess 2-3mm thick.

 

I believe not a lot of metal converts to what looks like a lot of rust but does anyone out there know?

 

Next job on the list I guess is to get down there, scrape away and repaint.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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29 minutes ago, baldlimey said:

 

I believe not a lot of metal converts to what looks like a lot of rust but does anyone out there know?

Rust is typically 6-7 times the volume of steel it has come from. So your  rust sheet represents a loss of less than 0.5mm from the original steel. I wouldn't worry about it. Just clean it off, treat with a rust treatment if you can't get back to bare metal, and repaint.

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2 hours ago, baldlimey said:

Just been poking around near the stern gland ...

 

What does "near" actually mean Pete? Can you be a bit more specific about where the rust came from exactly?

 

Was it from the inside of the baseplate, the vertical walls of the swims, the stern gland tube, for example? Was it from an area normally immersed in water?

Edited by blackrose
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3 hours ago, baldlimey said:

Just been poking around near the stern gland and pulled off, what look to me, like large chunks of rust almost looks like a sheet of rust I would guess 2-3mm thick.

 

I believe not a lot of metal converts to what looks like a lot of rust but does anyone out there know?

 

Next job on the list I guess is to get down there, scrape away and repaint.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

I had similar in the whole of the bottom of my engine bay. Scraped/smashed it all off, hoovered it up, (wet and dry), then Vactan, primer, undercoat, topcoat. All good.

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17 hours ago, David Mack said:

Applied with a Vatacan rag.

First you get down on your knees...

 

Thanks for reminding us about this very clever, gifted and funny man. All we were going to do this morning sacrificed to youtube and Tom's ouvre which is all there for free. He's still alive, in his 90's now but many of his songs from the 50's and 60's still have relevance for today.

 

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21 hours ago, baldlimey said:

Hi Blackrose,

 

The baseplate under the stern gland, yes commonly immersed in water.

I have a lovely  (and small) wife who has 'volenteered' to get down there with the Vatacan. 

 

Pete 

 

 

I hate to say it but if it's immersed in water all the time then vactan will only work for a limited time before it starts rusting again. You really need to get it dry, mechanically remove the rust with a wire brush on the end of a power tool and a few coats of a good two-part epoxy. That's really the only long term solution to preventing corrosion in what's effectively a wet bilge.

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54 minutes ago, blackrose said:

You really need to get it dry, mechanically remove the rust with a wire brush on the end of a power tool and a few coats of a good two-part epoxy. That's really the only long term solution to preventing corrosion in what's effectively a wet bilge.

 

Effectively, the only cure for a wet-bilge is to make it a dry-bilge.

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My favourite Tom Lehrer song is "I hold your hand in mine". 

 

I played it to my kids who are 9 and 11 and initially they thought it was quite sad but now they find it is really funny.

 

My mum introduced me to Lehrer about 20 years ago. Funny man. Maths genius. 

 

A beautiful love song 

https://youtu.be/kjPhFSlhOuQ

 

 

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It is a cruiser stern and whilst in theory should be a dry bilge it always seems to have some water in the bottom, we keep the drains clear and have a cover for when we leave the boat. Also have a seperate drip box with it's own bilge pump under the stern gland but water always seems to find a way in.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

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1 minute ago, baldlimey said:

It is a cruiser stern and whilst in theory should be a dry bilge it always seems to have some water in the bottom, we keep the drains clear and have a cover for when we leave the boat. Also have a seperate drip box with it's own bilge pump under the stern gland but water always seems to find a way in.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

I find similar with mine, although don't have a cover. Every now and then I mop out the damp/water, and have found that the paint job is doing fine after a couple of years.

 

I have a bilge pump under the stern gland, but it doesnt get all the water out as there are a few mm of clearance between it, and the baseplate.

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9 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

Effectively, the only cure for a wet-bilge is to make it a dry-bilge.

 

Not necessarily. I have external lockers on my boat that can't be kept dry. A puddle of water sits on the steel floor. They were horribly rusty until I scurfed them out and painted them with epoxy several years ago. They won't rust again and I've effectively cured the problem.

 

The same system can be applied to any area of a steel boat that collects water including bilges. Stern glands are designed to drip a bit and bilge pumps won't get rid of all the water. I suppose a very careful owner could remove the water after each trip with a wetvac or some other pump but my point was that on many boats it's normal to have a bit of water in the engine bilges. 

 

On Streatley and Nuneham, both 1890s 90ft rivetted steel Thames steam passenger boats, a big part of our restoration was removing the rust and painting the bilges with several coats of epoxy. It wasn't just water from the stern glands that used to find it's way down there but also water from the boilers. They were designed to be wet bilges, but unfortunately steel and most single part paints aren't designed for long term immersion in water.

Edited by blackrose
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8 hours ago, baldlimey said:

It is a cruiser stern and whilst in theory should be a dry bilge it always seems to have some water in the bottom, we keep the drains clear and have a cover for when we leave the boat. Also have a seperate drip box with it's own bilge pump under the stern gland but water always seems to find a way in.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

I have the same problem as the gutters on mine are undersized. They cope with most rain but not a downpour. I've just made a cover for my cruiser stern deckboards using 5mm thick checker plate pattern rubber sheet from Amazon. Seems to be working so far. I just roll it up and put it on the roof if I'm taking the boat out. I've oversized the matt by about 5" on 3 sides around the deckboards.

 

 

IMG_20210802_080202.jpg

Edited by blackrose
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10 hours ago, baldlimey said:

It is a cruiser stern and whilst in theory should be a dry bilge it always seems to have some water in the bottom, we keep the drains clear and have a cover for when we leave the boat. Also have a seperate drip box with it's own bilge pump under the stern gland but water always seems to find a way in.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

 

We had the same problem, rain would run in under the deck-boards but it was easily solved with a pram-hood, after installation we never had a drop in the bilge.

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19 hours ago, magnetman said:

My favourite Tom Lehrer song is "I hold your hand in mine". 

 

I played it to my kids who are 9 and 11 and initially they thought it was quite sad but now they find it is really funny.

 

My mum introduced me to Lehrer about 20 years ago. Funny man. Maths genius. 

 

A beautiful love song 

https://youtu.be/kjPhFSlhOuQ

 

 

 

Whereas "I got it from Agnes" is a totally different sort of Love song!

 

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