sand blasting to gell coat????

[obiec]

My boat is a 33 foot Islander and it has been painted many times. The last owner I believe just used a cheep primer and no top paint . Its needs to be taken down to the gel coat and re painted. Can I sand blast it. Or maybe soda blast??

[DelmarRey]

If it''s cheap paint, I would think it would come off fairly easy with a paint remover. Sand blasting is not a precise removal method. If you work one spot to much trying to remove the paint you''ll end up making mini-craters with domes. A steel vessel would be the only one I''d sand blast! If the paint is peeling or flaking, try a pressure washer first, then remover, then wet-n-dry sandpaper (wet) or scotch-brite with a remover.
Have fun.........(|_<<..Del

[RookieHunter]

Be careful with the pressure washer. I really liked the immediate response that I got with the tightest tip on the washer when I was removing barnacles from the steel keel. Trouble is that when you put it on the non-steel hull, it removes gel-coat too and down to fiberglass. Now I have several holes of gel coat to patch before I can paint. Summary- Don''t use the most powerful tip.

[DelmarRey]

Obviously on the "Don''t use the most powerful tip". In my trade we use pressurized water to cut plates of steel. I''ve removed paint from one of my past cars at a carwash. Was I mad! Anyhow, one has to use a little judgment when trying any method of surface removable. Learn the capabilities of a peice of equipment before diving into a project. Good luck with yours.