Wow, that's a lot of work that you put in for the keel! I bet the end-result was great, and extended the yacht's life with another 20 years!
As for my case, having budgeted an initial repair cost of around $1000 (based on net articles and broker's opinion), when "threatened" with $3000 costs for hardstands, removal, refitting and repairs, I said Thank you, but no thank you.
So, while on hardstands, and anti-fouling process underway, I've grinded the keel with a wire-brush fixed to a professional grinder, and then, grinded more with a disk for metal that is used by boiler-makers to make flush the welds. Right after that, in a matter of tens of minutes, I've applied a rust converter all over the keel. The next day the sight was unbelievable: the entire keel turned from rusty red-grayish iron crap to glossy solid gray keel!
To make sure of the results achieved, I took a hammer, and gave it a good pounding to see if anything breaks away from the keel...to my surprise, it was rock hard!
Then I've applied 2 coats of Interprotect, undiluted, and then 2 coats of hard anti-foul.
In the meantime, I've cut additional 2 big round holes in the keel casing, where I fitted to vising ports with clear lids. That gave me access to the rest of the keel, where I've applied the same painting system.
One thing that I haven't touched, was the joint between the inner and outer keel casings...which I'll have to re-seal somehow, for my own piece of mind...haven't noticed any leaks so far, but then again, haven't sailed it yet, just cruised under motor power for good 6 hours...
Anyway...I have now a much better understanding of the various swing keel systems, and one thing I've learned is that I'm never gonna jump head first into something like this!
Thank you Dave, and all of yous who threw in some very good information!
Cheers, John
