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Stripping the bottom paint

7K views 21 replies 16 participants last post by  jentine 
#1 ·
SO I know I can sand it .... not great to breath, need special gear and at 30 feet its a bear.

I know I can hire a company ..... $$$$$$'

I had a small 20 footer that I used 5F5 paint stripper and after I scraped it off I washed it down. Everyone told me not to do it. That was twelve years ago and that boat is still floating.

Whats everyone here think ?

Really appreciate it.

McSwiggin
 
#2 ·
You can use a fiberglass safe stripper, like Soystrip.
 
#4 ·


For the most part a rigid razorblade holder from and auto parts store will make pretty fast work of bottom paint it is a very easy clean up

A 100 pack of blades is less than 10 dollars as they go dull pretty fast BUT as you refine your style it gets pretty easy to remove a lot of old paint
 
#11 ·
I am likely to have to redo my bottom in the next year, would you mind expanding on this method? Do you use this like you would for removing the reg sticker from your car? Cant be that way can it? I would think you dig into the gel-coat or worse yet the fiberglass?

Regards,
Brad

s/v KIVALO
 
#7 ·
The last time I stripped the bottom, used an orbital d.a. sander with a big shop vac attached. Getting a large shop vac attached and then dragging around a big vacuum hose is a PITA but a powerful vacuum really keeps the dust contained as long as you have the right disks with the holes lined up. An open coat 80 grit or so takes the paint off very, very quickly. With my old boat, I'm not concerned about maintaining a glassy gel coat so a rough grit is not an issue. Don't know if this would work with a fine grit to maintain a slick gelcoat but I suspect fine 220 or so disks would clog very quickly. In that case, a chemical remover would probably be the way to go. Will have to give one of those razor scrapers a try as mentioned above by tommays.
 
#10 ·


On a boat that had more things bad than i could count





Somehow under about 15 coats of bottom paint was PERFECT blister free barrier coat which i did NOT want to mess up

And i was not paying the soda-blast guy 2K :)

While it was painful to use a 3" carbide scraper it only took about 24 hours to reach intact barrier coat on a 29' hull without much dust at all



After a fast scuff and clean and more barrier coat the bottom paint was once again happy



After a full season of soaking the bottom paint is still happy
 
#14 ·


On a boat that had more things bad than i could count



...
After a full season of soaking the bottom paint is still happy
THAT is amazing!!! Nice job!

How did you paint the topsides?
 
#12 ·


A 3" carbide PULL scraper turned out the best and even that took 8 spare blades as once they go somewhat dull it really slows down

Home Depot sells there Husky brand and the blades BUT it is only in the store NOT on there web sight

The razor blade was a PUSH tool and dulled pretty easy on bottom paint

Like everything else it took time to find the best angle of attack that took paint and not boat :)

BUT the barrier coat is MUCH harder than bottom paint
 
#13 ·
A scraper like Tommy,s works pretty well but you will get some gouges. You will need a powerful orbital sander and 60 and 80 grit to get a smooth job. You will take off some gel coat so I would recommend putting on the recommended coats of a good barrier epoxy.
I would allow lots of time, took me about 4 weeks to do a 30 footer with about 20 years of bottom paint on it. I found I could only work at it about 2 hours at a time.

Have fun :)
 
#18 ·
Tommays, great job on the boat. I need to paint mine and need some advise. How long did the job take you, how did you get the boat off the trailer, where did you get the jack stands from, what kind of paint do you recommend and how did you apply it roller or spray it?
 
#20 · (Edited)
At some point in time the PO did a really good barrier coat job which i saw no point in damaging as the boat has never had blister issues (knock on wood ) :)

SO i used a carbide PULL scraper to get off the 15 some odd layers and it TOOK a long time perhaps 5 FULL days

BUT your in a time VS money deal and saving time would have cost 2K and removed perfect barrier coat

I scraped to barrier coat and did a fast 80 grit scuff and then did MORE barrier coat and followed up with micron extra in the recommended time frame WHICH is pretty much instantly :)

The topsides and bottom paint TOOK the most hours in a two year refit :eek: BUT if i had and indoor work area it would have taken MUCH less time and if i had HEAT even LESS time ;)
 
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