Keel guard ?

[tracman86]

The keel guard on my bass boat isstarting to peel off, was wanting suggestions on what adhesive I could use to get it back on. Or what the common solution to this is. Thanks for the help.

[fishinwrench]

The only thing that works is getting the whole thing off, cleaning and prepping both surfaces, warm everything up with a heat gun, and reapplying.

I've used this with good success.

[Walleyedmike]

47 minutes ago, tracman86 said:

The keel guard on my bass boat isstarting to peel off, was wanting suggestions on what adhesive I could use to get it back on. Or what the common solution to this is. Thanks for the help.

Man, that really sucks. I have no idea of any adhesive that you could use to stick the keel guard back on, and my guess is that doing so will compound the clean up process when the inevitable happens and you have to replace it. I've replaced the keel guard on my last two boats, and it takes some time and quite a bit of elbow grease, but can be done. I did the first one around six years ago, and it was still in good shape when I sold the boat last month. The second one, I finished last Friday. The adhesive on the keel guard is kind of like a thin double sided tape. What I've found works well is to peel the keel guard off and use a heat gun to heat the double sided foam type adhesive and scrape it off with a putty knife (carefully) about a foot at a time. When you are done with this process, you will still have the sticky adhesive from the other side of the double sided tape on the boat hull. I put acetone in a spray bottle and spray a couple of coats of acetone on the adhesive, again about a foot at a time and scrape the adhesive off (carefully) with a putty knife. I then soak a towel with a product called goo gone to remove the last of the adhesive. The process takes several hours, laying on your back under the boat. A new keel guard can be purchased at many fishing outlets, I bought mine at Cabelas. Installation of the new keel guard is pretty straight forward, just follow the manufacturers recommendations.

WM

[Ketchup]

Good info Mike.  I resealed about a 2’ part of mine once, and did pretty much as you described. It’s a pain, but part of this boating life we live. 

[Dutch]

Have you checked the warranty on your keel protector?  Mine came loose on my old Champion 206.  When I called about it they said it was still under 50% so I got a good break on the price of a new one so I ripped the old one off and put a new one on.

[Flysmallie]

Find you some 3M VHB double sided tape. It’s thin and is much easier than dealing with regular adhesives. Make sure it’s where you want it the first time you stick it to the hull. 

[tracman86]

Thanks for the advice! I was thinking this was going to be a project. Owning a boat is so much fun. Always working on something. 

[Old dog 417]

2 hours ago, tracman86 said:

Owning a boat is so much fun. Always working on something. 

Ain't that the truth? The irony is...2 years old or 12 years old...things just keep happening and always when I least expect them. I think there are invisible gremlins in the 

lake water because nothing seems to go wrong with it while it's in the garage! 😉 

od