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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.
I did try a product this spring on a small area and it did O.K. but was going to take several coats to get down to the gelcoat. I didn't have the time as Summer was calling. It took off a thin layer.
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?
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.
The last and only time I stripped the bottom was also with an orbital sander. I bought a really good face mask that enclosed my whole face, eyes included and it worked really well. A belt sander works well as well, and is not as dusty. I used 100 grit.
I'd rather leave a little paint than take anything off the barrier coat or gel coat. I've known some agressive grinders that made some expensive mistakes.
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.
very impressive work amigo
I am wondering the content of the 'soy based' products
I will be working on a 22 footer next week that just has fresh water alge stains and so forth
any ideas are greatly appreciated
-JD
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?
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 BUT if i had and indoor work area it would have taken MUCH less time and if i had HEAT even LESS time
A proper sanding vacuum system will make the job cleaner and safer.
Jim
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