triton bilge fairing

Popeye1865 · Post by **Popeye1865** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 10:24 am

well it looks like while building pearson dumped all of there extra resin in the bilge as they went along. they later poured a fairing compound over it all and called it good. as this may have worked for a while it is now cracked and coming out in chunks with a scraper/screwdriver so has anyone had any luck removing or encapsulating this stuff. and what products did you use. i was thinking of mixing up large batches of west but seems like that would be a waste. is there something similar to tar and cement used on wooden boats to fair the garbord/keel flush
thanks
Brandon

Post by **Tim** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:21 pm

I'm not really sure what you're talking about.

?

Popeye1865 · Post by **Popeye1865** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 5:31 pm

the keel of my triton (deep bilge) has some type of fairing compound poured over the bottom of the bilge. from the water tank to the rudder. it looks like it is was poured in the fair the bilge and make it drain nicely it is cracking and coming out in chunks now. it seems to be 1/2 - 1" thick

bcooke · Post by **bcooke** » Sat Nov 08, 2008 6:31 pm

When the chunks come up is it exposing the ballast pig underneath or is it truly cosmetic?

A picture would be helpful.

In my late model deep keeled Triton, I have some sort of 'goop' over the ballast pig but it is sound with no issues - other than being rough and ugly of course. I was thinking it was resin poured into place but I really don't know exactly what it is or what is underneath.

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Sun Nov 09, 2008 5:47 pm

Mine has black flaky goo over the keel bolts. Figuring I'll scrape it all out when I remove the cabin sole...

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 10:44 am

Popeye,

I forget, but do you have a West Coast (Aeromarine) Triton? I've read of several cases where folks have found a lead-shot/resin combination in the bottom of the water tank in those boats --- and that tank sits right on top of the ballast under the saloon sole.

Ray Alsup of Pegasus wrote it up in some detail when he was working on his West Coast Triton.

I'm a bit short on time at the moment, but if this is applicable -- and you haven't read or can't find the article -- I'll dig it up for you later. Just let me know.

Rachel
(back from a two-week out-of-town class)

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Thu Nov 27, 2008 6:00 pm

Did some excavation work yesterday...

The flakey stuff in mine is really a darkish orange color under the goo. Maybe an 1/8th inch thick at most, and only wraps up the sides of the bilge 3 or 4 inches. Looks like it went in as a resin, but it is definitely a different color from all the other laminate in the boat...

Its quite a blessing, as pulling the loose stuff out reveals an almost clean bilge under it!

Popeye1865 · Post by **Popeye1865** » Thu Dec 04, 2008 11:07 pm

i've finally returned to grind and clean the bilge area and old floor board tabbing and was able to look more closely at the bilge fairing. some is blue and some is white looks like the white stuff was down first but not very fair and then later the blue stuff was applied. it extends up the sides of the bilge slightly 3-10 inches but not nearly as thick. some has chipped out in big sections but does not expose the ballast. i plan on either using some bondo kitty hair or thickening gel coat to re-fair the bilge it is all strictly cosmetic so i seems like anything will work as long as it has some adhesion properties.

Popeye1865 · Post by **Popeye1865** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:52 pm

sorry but here are some pics of what i am talking about

looking aft toward Eng/rudder

looking fwd toward water tank

i have ground and chipped most of the remaining fairing (show in the pics)down so there is not much left to fair out now.
Brandon

Rachel · Post by **Rachel** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 11:24 pm

I'm not sure about the second photo, but that darkish orange "edge" in the first photo look like it could bet an unreinforced "resin pour." If you were to wipe it off with a damp cloth, would it look something like frozen root beer or a dark-colored beer bottle?

There was something like this in the bottom of the bilge on the Alberg 30s (although it is no longer in existence on my Alberg 30; I really should update that thread...)

I guess they thought this wouldn't crack (but I bet it did crack in about 1968).

Rachel