Lead plug #3

Evening’s visit to the boatyard.
It’s still chilly but the sky is clear with millions of stars. Where my boat is there are no lamps anywhere near - pitch dark - so on such nights one can really enjoy watching the sky.

Tonight’s job was to close the third, last keel opening. It went surprisingly smooth - this time I shaped the lead plug much better so hammering went easier and I was not forced to bang it for long. As before the nuts and keel bolt, together with the whole pocket were covered with bedding compound. Then followed lead plug.

Melting with flame, banging, melting again, banging - it’s a routine now. Finally the plug was in place and I’m left with circa 2-3 kg of lead from all 3 plugs. Not bad.

I cleaned all 3 plugs and their vicinity with wire brush and MAPP torch, to remove as much oxidation as possible. Then followed first layer of mönja - red paint, iron oxide in linseed oil. Traditional way.

Unfortunately my ballast keel was covered with epoxy - and the job was unsuccessful in many places so epoxy is lifting due to continued surface corrosion of the iron. Not a big deal for me - Meritaten is not a racing boat - but at some point I will have to sand blast the whole ballast and protect it again with something. Probably järnmönja this time - the old way.

It’s a sign of our times - we want to make things quicker to save time. And yet we have less time than our grandfathers, in my opinion. That’s probably due to the fact that we want to do too much with our time - too many activities, TV, Internet etc. So modern paints are composed to dry quicker but they are more expensive than old ways - and often the result is the same or sometimes worse. Järnmönja takes time to cure - linseed oil needs to oxides which takes time. But it is very cheap and contains no hazardous chemicals. It’s also easy to apply. Why do we use other methods? Because they are quicker! But they cause their own set of problems - time and money-wise costly problems.

So on Meritaten I chose to go the old way, as much as it is practical. Partially because I’m not in a hurry and also because I want to see how these things worked. That does not mean that I don’t use wonders of XXI century, like epoxy or bedding compounds - I do. But only in applications which, in my opinion, benefit from them. Primer paint is not one of them - I think traditional paint does a better job. It just takes more time.

So this part is done.
I can move now back to the bilge to fix broken frames.
And repair the cockpit.
And repair the engine foundations.
And refresh the engine room.
And…