In for a penny, in for a pound? If you are going to go to that much trouble, it is a very easy process to melt the spent lead to clean it up. I did that with about 700 pounds of old wheel weights last year. Brass, dirt and just about anything else will float on top of the molten lead and can be skimmed off. It is a very easy process. Not only will you clean it up, but you will concentrate it, so it takes up less space. Equipment needed would be an old cast iron dutch oven and an LP fish cooker burner. You can use a lot of things to make your ingots, including small bread pans or even muffin tins. Or find something that resembles the shape of your cavity and use that. And go with epoxy vs. polyester. Howard On Nov 5, 2015, at 10:48 PM, Todd Bradley wrote:
Well, it looks like I'm going to embark on the removal and replacement of the steel ballast in my M 23's Keel.
I know I won't be the first one who has embarked on this adventure. I plan on following Sean Mulligan's photo journal of his ballast replacement. I'm going to follow his lead (thanks Shawn, don't know what I would do without your photos and written description! ) and plan on doing the following: get the boat on jack stands, cut "Windows" into the side of the keel, remove the old steel punching's, replace approximately with 1200 pounds of lead in layers (each layer encased in polyester resin), seal the whole thing back up again.
What I would like to ask the group and particularly anybody else that has performed this task.... Is there any "lessons learned" you might change that would improve this process or outcome?
I know from Shawn's photos and documentation that he ended up creating a lead ingots that he stood on end in order to fill the upper portion of the keel. Would it make sense to cut the windows a little higher in order to the get the lead up to a higher level? Or might this compromise the structural integrity of the keel?
Shawn used pieces of landscape Bender board to create temporary dams as he built up the lead in layers. I was contemplating if it might make sense to use layers of wetted fiberglass applied on the inside of the keel to help create the dam and also adding some structural integrity back. Does anybody think this has any value or would it be just a waste of time?
I found a relatively inexpensive source for the lead at a shooting range. They will sell me the reclaimed lead that has been screened. It has small bits of brass from the bullet jackets. I don't think this will create too much of a problem especially when the lead is encased in polyester resin? I am thinking about buying about thousand pounds of the reclaimed ammunition and also using some of the lead shot to sprinkle in as I go to make sure everything packs in nicely.
My sailboat stands arrive in about a week. I have already spoken to the crane guy and plan on having him lift the boat so I can place the stands. Then the fun can begin ;)
any advice or prayers are appreciated!
Todd Bradley
M-23 #86