Sailboat keel

[kc8npm]

I have an old sailboat that I never use. I just got to thinking and I believe that I heard that the movable keel is made of lead- seems reasonable since its not rusty like a ferrous metal should be. Does any one know if this is true and the million dollar question- what composition would a keel generally be made from? If this is good and I decide to trash the boat, I should be able to get at least a couple hundred pounds of material to start with. Thanks for any help.

[clodhopper]

Most likley lead, it used to be cheap.
What the alloy is...well what ever the they could get, could be wheel weights could be pure lead.

[Sonnypie]

Give it the acid test. :idea:
I think I got this from MikeS...
But muriatic acid on Zinc bubbles, but on lead does nothing, just sits there.
It's the same acid used in pools.
(And remember acid can be hazardous!)

[Springfield]

I have bought 3 sailboat keels in the last 4 years and they all were very soft lead. There is usually quite a bit of dross when melted, but with a bit if WW added made great Black powder bullets. The difficult part is getting them small enough fit in my melting pot.

[Shiloh]

It could be any lead alloy or a mix of other metals. Its function was for dead weight so alloy wasn't important. If it casts, I'd use it.

Shiloh

[Huntducks]

I bought the lead out of a huge sail boat keel it was 80% lead shot just dumped inside the keel you could see when they drained the shot out of the keel that it was just a random buy and dump of lead everything from BB to 10, I got 9 five gallon buckets about 3/4 full along with some lead bricks, I made up several sifters to size the lead and have done 3 buckets so far, and that lead killed a bunch of doves the last 2 weeks:bigsmyl2:

Everything I have seen the bigger boats have lead in the keel but i'm only intrested in shot anymore and this was the 3rd keel I got in on 2 with shot 1 with bricks and sheet lead.

[cbrick]

Welcome to Castboolits kc8npm,

I haven't yet seen shot in the keel, only poured lead into a mold the boat maker made to fit his keel (smaller boats). The lead/alloy appears to be about anything the boat maker can melt and pour into his mold.

If you scrap the boat by all means keep the lead. Cast a few with it and see how it shoots. At the very least you will have a couple of hundred pounds that you can alloy with and possibly an alloy that's good to go.

Rick

[imashooter2]

I would think you could sell pretty much any sailboat that floats for enough to buy twice as much lead as you'd get from the keel...

[Springfield]

Sailboats rot out all the time and have to be scrapped/salvaged. I met a guy near me who gets them from the marina owner. People abandon their boats pretty often also, it appears. I plan on getting more keel lead from him.

[9.3X62AL]

Saltwater EATS boats. All the galvanic anodes on earth only delay the inevitable if a craft stays floating in ocean water. This is why I go through the hassle of pulling my plastic pig OUT of the salt after each use--hosing it down with fresh water--and letting it air-dry on the trailer at 60 MPH for 200 miles from San Diego.

Ahem. I was the recipient of some leftover WW metal--about 300# or so--from the construction of a 12-meter sailboat tht Marie's uncle finished about 3 years ago. He had this metal poured into 1" x 4" and 2" x 4" "bricks" in Tijuana, then brought about 2500# of the stuff across the border in a couple pickup truck loads through San Ysidro. This "leftover" consisted of end pieces from the fitting of the "bricks" into the ballast compartment--a lot like wooden jobsite scrap--and several 5-gallon buckets about 3"-4" deep in lead sawdust.

[gnoahhh]

My buddy and I poured a lead keel for the 35ft. wooden sailboat we built , in 2008. 2500 pounds, and it was a hell of an ordeal. The mould was a grave-sized hole in the ground lined with casting sand packed around a wooden form which was then removed and the lead poured in. Greatly simplified, but you get the picture. The lead was melted in an old cast iron bathtub, and it was full. When we opened the 2" pipe to drain it, that bathtub emptied into the mould in about 30 seconds! God almighty but it was something to see!

We scoured the scrap yards for about a hundred mile radius gathering lead in any form, any alloy. (The choice bits went home with me for obvious reasons!) Anybody who salvages that thing for the lead is going to get an alloy of about 1/2 soft lead and 1/2 wheel weights. Lots of voids in the surface, but there was no putting it back in the pot and re-melting it. I faired the surface with thickened West System epoxy. Turned out pretty good.

[kc8npm]

:bigsmyl2:Hmmm, the carrot is now in front of the horse' I've tried a couple of times to sell the boat for $500.00. It's just sitting out back gathering green stuff and deteriorating. Sounds like a few hundred pound of boolits. Thanks for the great info everyone. Hopefully some day I can pass my knowledge and experience forward. I'm new to this, but addicted to learning new things. Again, thanks to everyone!

[yovinny]

the movable keel is made of lead.

Most sailboats with fixed keels are lead.

Most of the sailboats I've seen with 'movable keels', were made from cast iron.

If it's a small boat and actually a 'centerboard', it's most likely just aluminum.

What kind of boat and it's size would be more of a help.

Cheers, YV

[kc8npm]

The poor boat has sit on land in the sun for a number of years now. Almost everything would need refinished/restored. I figure if I haven't taken her out by now, I probably never will. I'm going to check the keel - probably try to drill it a little first and examine the waste to determine if it is ferrous or non. I tried a magnet last night, but wasn't sure if it was the material or some sort of framework. If it is Pb then I'll have quite a job ahead of me. I work for the water dept. in our city and when we run across old lead service, I scrounge that. I probably have better than a half ton of pure lead. I'll need to find a source of tin and antimony to alloy with it. Like I said before, I am just starting this and haven't even got a good start on getting what lead I do have into ingots. Learning as I go though. I'm amazed at how much I didn't know. I thought it would be just cleaning the lead, mixing it and pouring boolits. This is really a great site. I'll keep chugging along and learning and posting. Everyone has been kind and a great help. Thanks again, Les