14 Dulwich St., Loganholme, Queensland, 4129, Australia
P07 3806 1944 (+617 3806 1944) F07 3209 7711 (+617 3209 7711)

Conserving Carpentaria


			The Queensland Maritime Museum chose Feronite Rusty Metal Primer for its program to conserve "Carpentaria", a light ship which was built in 1917 and was in service until the early 1980's as a light ship near the tip of Cape York. After almost 100 years, Carpentaria is in very poor condition, with rust holes com- pletely thrugh its 15mm thick steel hull in many places around the water line. To add to the problems, it floated and capsized when the dry dock filled with water during the 2010 Brisbane river flood. The Queensland Maritime Museum has very little government funding and relies almost completely on volunteer labour to maintain and conserve its exhibits.
	The Museum's objective was to reduce the rate of deterioration as much as possible, and to make the vessel into a presentable and at- tractive exhibit. This had to be done with vol- unteer labour, and at minimal cost. The close proximity of residential apartments also pre- cluded very noisy or dusty operations. This ruled out the use of sand blasting, or other complicated or expensive systems and meth- ods. Based on 10 plus years experience with the conservation of HMAS Diamantina, a paint system based on Feronite Rusty Metal Primer was chosen. The work is being done by volunteers, so the skills needed to be reasonable. Also the project would need to be interrupted and undertaken as and when volunteers were available. Additionally, many volunteers are retired so that work need- ing great physical exertion is out of the ques- tion.		One of the many waterline rust holes. Flaky rust which is removed by chipping and nee- dle gunning.
	Even though Carpentaria is in poor condition, Feronite RMP does not require the metal to be pre- pared to a high standard. The hull is chipped and nee- dle gunned to remove lose flaking rust, and then wire brushed to remove any residual loose material. Once a section had been prepared, it is coated with 2 coats of Feronite Rusty Metal Primer, applied using a brush. When dry, it is then over-coated with 2 brushed coats of a high performance universal alkyd primer(Interprime 198 Grey in this case), and		After 2 coats of Feronite Rusty Metal Primer.
	finally brushed top-coat with a general purpose high gloss enamel (alkyd) suited for steel structures (Interlac 649 Red and Black). Currently the work is being undertaken by a single (retired) volunteer on a 2 day a week basis. This preperation and painting schedule has been used very satisfactorily to keep HMAS Dia- mantina in very good condition over the last 10 or so years. Head of maintenance, Alan Bibbi says that the Feronite RMP makes a huge improvement in how long the coating stops new rust appearing. The outcome is a good looking exhibit, which has had the rate of dete- rioration greatly slowed for little more than the cost of the paint.

Enquiries

Please call Boatcraft Pacific 07 3806 1944 ( +617 3806 1944) for how to contact your nearest reseller.