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wrote:

I've recently bought a steel hulled houseboat in an area I want to
move to, with the hopes of later selling it and getting one with an
aluminum hull. I got a great deal on it, but feel sure that the bottom
is in bad shape. The previous owner said it was pulled and inspected
5 years ago, and found to have no rust on it at all. But I don't believe
it was treated then. It's in a fresh water lake. How bad can I expect
it to be now, if it really did have no rust 5 years ago?

The only way to tell is to get a survey, preferably by a surveyor that
knows steel. You'll need that for insurance, anyway, so choose someone
on their preferred list.

Tanzers have iron keels, which will rust in fresh though salt is worse.
We've found that POR-15 is the best "primer", with Rustlok the second
choice. Keeps rust away for, as far as we can tell, decades. One coat
seems sufficient. POR doesn't require going to bright metal, only
removing chunks of rust, a big plus.

Ablative or hard bottom paint is a judgment call. Where we are, I've
switched from hard (which worked really well) to a top-rated ablative
(which works as well, but doesn't build up as much and allows us to skip
a year or two of repaints.) In fresh water, I'd probably use a very
different paint -- the one that most everyone else at the dock is using.

"Later" is *such* a subjective term. We were acquired by Xan when we
were looking for a boat that would serve us for 5 or so years. After a
decade, she still meets our requirements for 5 or so years. Doing a
proper job doesn't cost that much more, can cost less in the medium and
long run, and can improve the selling price.

I've never heard of algae (or hard growth) creating rust, BUT rust
attracts growth more than bottom paint.

Simply pulling and relaunching won't by itself cause leaks unless they
were about to happen anyway.

In your situation, I'd probably wait until spring, though if I could
combine the survey haul and some of the work, I would.

'Course, if you rarely intend to move the boat or something like that,
the answers change drastically.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

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