Peel Away Marine Strip II

[foxglove]

I want to strip the bottom paint from my boat which has an epoxy barrier coat under the paint. Peel Away gets good recommendations from many sources.

Their website suggests that Marine Strip II should be used if the boat has a barrier coating. I called the company and a lady there told me that their basic product, Peel Away I which is available in any home improvement store, is the same product as the Marine Strip II.

I''m skeptical. I don''t want to peel off my barrier coat Does anyone know the real deal?

[Bermuda]

You are correct to be skeptical. They are two different products, with a 5X price difference, caveats on use are different, chemical composition is definitely different. #1 requires application of a thicker coat than does the #6 product although it is so much cheaper it doesn''t matter as much. Cost of the building product version is about $95 for a 5 gallon pail whereas the marine product is about $250 for the same quantity.

I have used both and if money is no object go with the marine product although the #1 product works very well with Pettit''s ACP ablative paint, and quickly too so it might do the same job with any of the ablatives.

I cant speak to the danger of either product inadvertently removing or damaging barrier coats except that I believe the #1 product would be less troublesome.

Somewhat unrelated to your question but perhaps of interest to others using PAW on boats without barrier coats, the last bottom I did I used PAW #1 to remove the existing ablative paint so I could change to a hard bottom paint instead. After removing the ACP-50 with the PAW, I washed the hull down with Pettit''s Hull Wax remover and it did an incredible job. It did just enough of an etch to the gelcoat, a sanding wasn''t required before repainting.

Capt. Bruce
boatskipper.com

[JoeTrecker]

I just purchased a 1971 Paceship Northwind. The bottom is very faded and worn with some chipping. Will it hurt the boat hull if it goes back in the water for the season? Or will it just affect perfomance? Would it help if I just added another coat of paint on top of the old stuff and did a correct job in the fall?