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Bottom paint etc

2K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  davidpm 
#1 ·
I have a friend who just bought an Almond 31 198?.
The bottom is very rough. Years of flaking off bottom paint.

It will cost him about 1,200 to soda blast the bottom and clean it up.
The full quote for complete bottom job soda, barrier coat and bottom paint is about 5,000.

The boat is worth probably 5 to 10 at best.

The obvious thing to do would be to scrape the loose stuff off and slap another coat of paint on it and forget it.

Would their be any advantage to doing the soda job and paint probable for under 2,000 or would that be a waste of money.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Here is my take/advice

If the boat is in good shape other wise, and he plans to keep it, I'd say soda blast it, and paint/barrier coat it himself. Total cost ~$1800 soda blast plus paint and barrier coat. $3800 for barrier coat and boat paint is outrageous,even if someone else is doing it..

If he just wants to put minimal money into it and just sail it, scrap the loose stuff, dispose of properly, slap some paint and go.

DrB
 
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#4 ·
Hey,

The scape and paint would be cheap in $, expensive in time, and would not work real well (unless you do a LOT of scraping and sanding).

The hardest part is the paint removal. The barrier coat and painting is easy, but will cost a few hundred.

I was in a similar position back in 2007 when my new to me boat was hauled. The boat had 20 years of hard paint build up. I hired a soda blaster who did a great job. I did the rest and the bottom is still in great shop.

Let me know if you want any more info.

Barry
 
#9 ·
What do you have in mind exactly.
I thought soda blasting did not do damage, apparently it does?
 
#7 ·
So many of us went through the similar situation including myself just recently. I also received a quote for $1,500 for soda blasting and $5,400 for sanding, repairing small blisters, barrier coat and bottom paint.
I hired the soda blasting service directly but I still there was a good amount of sanding required. I did everything else and did not hire it out. You will find out quickly why they charge so much... because it is not pleasant work.

Soda blasting down to the gelcoat really exposes the age of the hull and how well it was maintain or if there are inherit issues.

I agree with BarryL, the removal and prep work is not expensive but very time consuming. Barrier coats and bottom paint can be done in two days.

We spent approximately $1,420 materials including barrier coating, bottom paint, sanding paper, new rollers, trays, air resp, etc... and took about 60+ hours. Which looking at the cost proposals we received, falls inline. ($1,420 materials, $75 hr (boatyard rates x 60 hrs =) $4,500 labor = $5,920.

You asked if you can soda blast and paint can be done for $2,000? If you are talking about soda blasting, prep work, barrier coat and bottom paint, I would say no.
If you decide to scrape and sand the bottom paint off, no major blister repairs, self perform all the work, then yes. It will be hard work and many hours.

Good luck.
 
#8 ·
If he doesn't want to do the really dirty stuff himself, then:

The best way IMHO is to get a couple of the guys who hang out outside home depot. Pay them $100 for the day, give them blunted chisels (no hammers they will do damage with that haha) and a random orbital sander and some masks/goggles/gloves. For $200 you may be able to get the worst of it done in 1 day. Just stick around doing other boat repair stuff while they get most of the old paint off. Best I can see that's how the boat yards around here do things anyway.

I had a similar situation, but decided to just sand/rough the old stuff, and sand smooth the flaky stuff as well. Found hundreds of blisters, patched them up and threw on the bottom paint. Not enough money and time in the budget for a barrier coat and who knows how long I will have this boat, so that will have to work for now. That said, the quality of the bottom could be alot better. Everything is a copmpromise...
 
#10 ·
In Seafevers refit the ONLY thing NOT FUBAR was the Barrier coat under the 20 layers of bottom paint :confused:











I had a tight budget and 5 to 6 days of HELL scraping was worth the 2K

Its NOT like when the blaster is done its barrier coat ready
 
#11 ·
Hey,

From what I have seen, soda blasting will not damage gelcoat (unlike SAND blasting, which can really chew up gelcoat). The soda can remove bondo and other types of fillers. If you have patches of that on the keel or hull the soda blast can remove them. It can also open up blisters. It's up to you to decide of that is good or bad.

Barry
 
#12 ·
In reference to the soda blasting causing damage, like everything else, if you hire someone who knows what they are doing and does it everyday, you will not get any damage to the hull. Our guy, although had a poor work ethic, did a okay job and I wish he took a little more off because I still had a lot of sanding to do after he was done.
 
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