Opinions on Keelblack

[Margaret Price]

All you boaters who have been talking about KEELBLACK seem to be happy with results or not sure yet because it's too new. I used the product for the first time in April this year and after three months cruising could see rust spots appearing under the waterline. The boat was taken out and examined and the product had not adhered properly and was blistering below the waterline. I know the boat was properly prepared before the application (including use of Fertan where necessary) and we are now involved in a discussion with the makers which is not going anywhere at the moment. Anyone had a similar experience?

[Dave_P]

Moderator: I have changed to topic title to something more relevant, although I haven't heard of keel black.

 

https://canalworld.net/forums/index.php?/topic/85020-keel-black-is-it-any-good/

 

[peterboat]

Mine has been on a year now and seems fine but for me its a cosmetic covering as my boat is zingered, John my friend has it on so we will have a close look this weekend at his. When we returned our boats to the water we did make sure that we had left it for the required drying time after the last coat, which does seem critical for all underwater coverings.

[blackrose]

Three months! Dear me...

Whatever new-fangled names they give to bitumen-based blacking, isn't it still just bitumen? 

Apparently it's the "hardest bitumen known to man" except I thought the whole point of bitumen was that it remained soft, rather than hard and brittle?

http://www.keelblack.co.uk/

In my opinion if you want a tough underwater paint you need to get all that bitumen crap off the hull and use a proper epoxy.

[dmr]

If something sounds too good too be true then it usually is ?????

Epoxy is also a little over sold, if you use your boat hard it ain't gonna last 10 years, or even 7 years, but if you take the boat out after 3 or 4 years it will be 99% good and just need local repairs and a couple of new coats.

..........Dave

[MtB]

Keel Black strikes me as the bitumen equivalent of Axiom propellers.

A pedestrian product sold at inflated prices to people happy to suck up a load of marketing waffle.

[Tony Brooks]

If it helps.I have had trouble with Fertan. Mainly on horizontal surfaces and in cooler times of the year. I found it all but impossible to get all the black "dust" off and found out after the paint lifted on my welldeck floor. However in fairness it has seemed to have worked on the cabin sides under the window frames.

[frangar]

7 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Keel Black strikes me as the bitumen equivalent of Axiom propellers.

A pedestrian product sold at inflated prices to people happy to suck up a load of marketing waffle.

I concur....I wonder how resistant to fuel spills etc it is? From what I've read about how you are now supposed to apply it it's going to take as long as the well proven paint systems....I also don't get the "advantage" of not needing to apply it thickly...the cost of any paint system isn't great compared to other docking costs....,or indeed the remedial work needed if it's not as good as it's cracked up to be....

i realise that everything was a new once but other coating systems have tended to have a track record in other applications before they have found their way onto the inland waterways.

[GUMPY]

My suspicion is that cleaning off the Fertan residue could be where many problems lie. As Tony says he has had similar problems with it and paint. Personally I did a second pressure wash to remove residue and was surprised just how milky the water was coming off the boat.

[Tony Brooks]

8 minutes ago, Loddon said:

My suspicion is that cleaning off the Fertan residue could be where many problems lie. As Tony says he has had similar problems with it and paint. Personally I did a second pressure wash to remove residue and was surprised just how milky the water was coming off the boat.

That and the minimum temperature/time required for it to complete its reaction.

[peterboat]

46 minutes ago, Loddon said:

My suspicion is that cleaning off the Fertan residue could be where many problems lie. As Tony says he has had similar problems with it and paint. Personally I did a second pressure wash to remove residue and was surprised just how milky the water was coming off the boat.

When we did Johns boat we powerwashed the fertan off which I suspect is the way to do it

[BruceinSanity]

5 hours ago, frangar said:

I concur....I wonder how resistant to fuel spills etc it is? From what I've read about how you are now supposed to apply it it's going to take as long as the well proven paint systems....I also don't get the "advantage" of not needing to apply it thickly...the cost of any paint system isn't great compared to other docking costs....,or indeed the remedial work needed if it's not as good as it's cracked up to be....

i realise that everything was a new once but other coating systems have tended to have a track record in other applications before they have found their way onto the inland waterways.

Yes, I'm struggling to see the advantage. It sounds to be, if anything, more hassle than Comastic. The docking time works out the same and surface prep a lot more complex than for the tried and true stuff.

[Sea Dog]

Well I'll be blacking my boat this month for the second time since I first became aware of Keelblack. The first time I baulked at using it for lack of any real world evidence of its effectiveness and longevity. Rather surprisingly, I'll also not be using it this time for exactly the same reason.

It would have been pretty easy to have had photographic and surveyor's report evidence of Keelblack's performance on the cut covering at least 2 or 3 years by now, thus ample opportunity to show it performing as well or better than standard bituminous blacking. The lack of such evidence is at best a real oversight and an own goal by the manufacturer.  I can't for the life of me think of any good reason why such a trial wasn't the first thing done when considering marketing the product for narrowboat blacking.

Crikey, loads of us are dying to find a better product than traditional blacking that does not involve grit blasting. What a market opportunity there is for a product that can do that: had I have seen proper supporting evidence of its effectiveness, I'd undoubtedly be using Keelblack.

Edited August 3, 2017 by Sea Dog
Autocorrect re-correction!

[BruceinSanity]

15 hours ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Keel Black strikes me as the bitumen equivalent of Axiom propellers.

 

1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

The lack of such evidence is at best a real oversight and an own goal by the manufacturer.

Seems to me these two quotes fit together exactly. Axiom have still not, to my knowledge, produced adequate hard evidence to support their claims.

[Rickent]

Also make sure you use it within a couple of months of buying it.

I have 15 litres of unused keelblack that has gone off as I bought it last year a d didn't realise it only has a shelf life of 6 months. Looks like I will be using something more traditional.

[matty40s]

Did it have a sell by or use by date, or is this another thing the manufacturer could do with the customer telling them about.....

Sorry to hear it Rick.

[Rickent]

It does say on the tub that it has a shelf life of 6 months but I would imagine that most people that buy it are probably  not aware of this , as I wasn't and now looks as though I have chucked a hundred odd quid down the pan. Oh well , you live and learn.

[chubby]

i will be blacking my boat shortly with Rytex . I was planning on using fertan after the pressure washing was done but i think im not going to now as washing it off sounds a bit problematic . I 'll try to get some vactan at short notice but if i dont use fertan then once the hull sides are dry and ive scraped and wire brushed etc is it a case  of then just slapping on the bitumen and thats it ? Im going to use a brush not a roller so i can really scrub it in and plan on two coats . 

cheers

[GUMPY]

2 hours ago, Rickent said:

It does say on the tub that it has a shelf life of 6 months but I would imagine that most people that buy it are probably  not aware of this , as I wasn't and now looks as though I have chucked a hundred odd quid down the pan. Oh well , you live and learn.

Has it solidified at the bottom of the container? Mine was 5 months old but had been shaken every week or so so hadnt solidified and was fine to use.

[Rickent]

Yes, top half liquid, bottom half not quite solid but very stiff. It certainly can't be stirred up to remix it.

[dor]

Just for comparison, I had a 20 litre tine of Intertuf 16 that was about half full sitting in the garage for about 30 months.  It had gone a little bit thicker but was still stirrable. I thinned it back to normal thickness with a bit of white spirit and it went on fine and still looks good six months later.

[ditchcrawler]

This has just come up on Facebook but you have to bee a member to read it I think https://www.facebook.com/groups/NarrowboatOwnersGroup/permalink/1994978650780413/?comment_id=1995005150777763

[BruceinSanity]

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

This has just come up on Facebook but you have to bee a member to read it I think https://www.facebook.com/groups/NarrowboatOwnersGroup/permalink/1994978650780413/?comment_id=1995005150777763

I'm not a member of that group but could see it and play the video. For those who can't, it shows ten month old Keelblack, apparently applied over some sort of red primer, that can now be scraped off with a finger nail and in places rubbed off with the finger. There are multiple blisters trapping water against the steel.

[Boat&Bikes]

Not happy is he! I have a friend that used keelblack a couple of months ago. It will be interesting to see how that wears. I suppose you could find boats done with traditional type blacking that have faired no better.

Ian.

[David Mack]

No Facebook membership needed.

While we don't know anything about how this boat was prepared and the stuff put on, the fact that he can wipe if off with a wet finger is rather telling!

I was considering using it, but the recommendation to use Fertan (I think) on any bare metal put me off.  That stuff would have cost far more than the Keelblack and taken days to dry before we could actually put any black on, eliminating the claimed time saving. I'm glad I didn't use it.