rangerdog":nzmhep0w said:
After drilling the new mounting holes on the blade, what would you guys do to fill in the old holes, if anything?
It ain't the preiiest, but you can put duct tape over the bottom and put a "glob" of marinetex on the top, though you must roughen up the small nickle-sized are for the glob to stick too. I would think a SS rivet woule be slick!
rangerdog":nzmhep0w said:
My current tabs are painted. I wasn't intending to paint the new ones. Pros, cons, thoughts?
I don't paint mine. The bottoms keep very clean due to their use. The tops get hairy, so I have to scrub them at least once every 2 weeks to minimize any build-up.
I tried waxing them with various results, worked great until 1/2-way through the season, so either it wore away or the heat of the latter part of the season promulgated lots of growth.
This year I was going to try spraying the tabs with Pam cooking spray, just to see what happens. I now use it as my release agent of choice when working with epoxies ... as nothing sticks to it. You could spray a bolt with it, stick it into a tub of epoxy, and when cured, just unthread the bolt as simple as anything.
Painting tabs:
Done properly, it's an expensive and 3-part process, as you need to etch the tab, prime the tab to accept paint, add a tie-coat primer (rubber based), and then top off with your anti-fouling paint of choice.
DO NOT try this with that Primacon anti-F crap stuff sold "allegedly" for use on SS, it doesn't work! Pettit's system is reputed to be the best, but this is best done if you know of 4 or more other guys that want to do it, as the etching/primers are only sold in quarts, mid $20 to $30 each, so you're looking @ roughly $80 plus your bottom paint. FYI - that rubber-based "tie coat primer" insulates the SS tab material from any cuprois oxide used in your AF paint.
!
