Stripping bottom paint

[Ned Crockett]

Am planning a winter project of stripping off old bottom paint layers down to gel coat and would appreciate help re. best product, process, etc. Have been looking at products at West Marine and local hardware store. Would prefer working with a non-toxic remover. However, boat will be outside so don't want to rule out a stronger more effective product. Also, once paint is off what preparation of the bottom should be made to insure adhesion of bottom paint?

[trapper]

My husband just hauled his boat. The fellow who runs the yard where he had the boat hauled showed him this gizmo from Northern Tools that you hook onto your pressure washer. It uses sand and water. It cost a little less than $70. MY husband said it was great and went out and bought one. We have not used it yet but we hope it will make the job a lot easier.

I just found it in the catalog at page 107. It is the "High-Pressure Sandblasting Kit" #2260-1901.

[sharkbait]

I use a heat gun and a putty knife. No dust or liquids to clean up.

[Gary H]

I had pretty good success with Peel Away. You have to let it sit for at least 12 hours.

[shavdog]

I would take a look at that product....I havent used it but have heard some good things about it....

[Markst95]

Hey Sharkbait - Does the heat gun really work? Can you give us more detail on how to use it???

[BillNH]

I would take a look at that product....I havent used it but have heard some good things about it....

See my comments on using Franmar SoyStrip here: http://www.capedory.org/board/viewtopic.php?t=23780

I highly recommend it over mechanical stripping!

[sharkbait]

It works like a champ. I use a 2" putty knife with a stiff blade. I dress the tip of the blade so that it is square and perpendicular to the blade. (Square it off) Not sharpen it. Depending upon outside temperature I run the heat gun on high or low. I usually hold the gun about 3 inches above the paint and pointed away from my hand. As the paint softens I just push the putty knife forward. By holding the heat gun at an angle the area in front of the putty knife is always being heated and I can continually strip the paint. I just finished removing seven layers of paint off the hull of a Typhoon Weekender and another four layers of anti-skid off of the deck. This technique also works very well on varnish and cetol. Warning don't get the area to hot or the gel coat will soften and come off with the paint. It takes a little practice but after about the first 15 minutes you will get the hang of it. Start in an area where you can fix your mistakes or an area where they won't show. Remember you don't have to get it all off; just remove the majority and follow up with a 220 grit sander. Very little dust will come up with the 220 and it preps the area for follow up paint. I use an air driven random orbital sander.

Here is a photo of my latest project. Most of the hull has been stripped. I am removing the boot stripe- It was only three layers.

[2tocruise]

Last Spring was our bottom project. The plan was to take the bottom back to gelcoat, barrier coat, and paint. We started with peel away. That removed maybe 40% of what was on the bottom. With heavy sanding using a 5" random orbit and two and a half solid weeks of sanding we had removed maybe another 15%.
One day when pulling in the yard I saw someone setting up to sodablast the bottom of a 44' fin-keeled sloop. He finished half the boat in the time it took me to do a two foot patch. Right then and there I decided that was for us. The rest of the bottom was done in less than two hours! I had initially decided against hiring someone due to the cost, but when I realized it would easily cut three weeks of yard bills, and afternoons and weekends spent holding a sander over my head getting covered in bottom paint dust the money laid out for it didn't seem that bad.

[Bob Condon]

I know that some will not agree with my method for removing the bottom paint but I have 14 layers to remove.

Essentially, I used a belt sander with 28 grit belts to cut through the top 10-12 layers. I put plastic down on the ground and wet everything down. I hooked my belt sander up to a shop vac with a 1" flexible (cheap) drain tubing and went to town..

Full suit with respirator. 95% went into the vac and 5% became airborne but because it was calm, it dropped on the wet plastic and very little travelled. That took about 6 hours and then I slept. The amount of material exceeded 150 lbs (several trash contractor bags)

===
next I went to liquid remover (Citric) and that was very slow and painful, but much more user friendly to get to the gelcoat.

A couple of places I did hit the gelcoat with the belt sander and I used gelcoat repair to fix the minor surface damage.

It was a lot of work but now have a much better bottom to work with

Bob

[Ned Crockett]

Thanks to all for sharing your experiences and suggestions.
Bottom line seems to be that it is not an easy job. Think I'll try the chemical process first, but will probably then go the the heat gun, followed by having it sand blasted. Or, maybe I should bight the bullet and have the yard do it. Oh well, at least I have plenty of planning time. Many thanks!

[BubbaThePirate]

Boat Brite, from WM, worked great for me. I did my CD28 hull in about a day and a half with a gallon and a half and two 3" putty knives.

It is expensive, but I highly recommend it. Very Do-It-Yourselfer friendly. Caveats: lay it on thick as directed; leave it on for as long as they say, or a bit longer; and use the visqueen/plastic to cover it as it 'cooks.' Most every where I did it right and it scooped right off like warm butter. I could immediately tell if I got ahead of myself time-wise or didn't slather on enough.

Good Luck.

[BillNH]

next I went to liquid remover (Citric) and that was very slow and painful, but much more user friendly to get to the gelcoat.

Be careful with Citrus strippers... I did some research on these last year and discovered that a number of the citrus stripping products (including the one sold by the big orange home improvement store) specifically state that they are not recommended for use on fiberglass. While it was more expensive, this was part of what ultimately led to me using SoyStrip.

[Bob Condon]

Ned,

If you start with chemical (aka flammable) DO NOT GO TO A HEAT GUN!

The chemical can remain on the surface, then the heat will light it off and then you get to call the insurance company!


===
30 years ago, I worked in a maintenance department for a factory
during the summers. I was not there because I had gone back to school, but one of the jobs was to scrape and paint a ranch style outer buiding. The team started with a chemical stripper and because it was going SOOOOO slow, one of the older members said that he used to use heat (torch or heat gun) to soften the paint and scrape it off.

SO the plumbers torch with a wide nossle came out... the entire back of the building instantly went up in flames and the chemical stripper was put on a week earlier...

The fire department did a great job putting the fire out and all the paint was nicely bubbled and ready for scraping.

===

Years later, we all had a good laugh but would not be funny for your boat...

DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME.......EVER

Good luck on the job... The rewards at the end ARE worth it.

Bob Condon

[Ned Crockett]

Thanks Bob for the warning. I'll be sure and check the "ingredients" of the chemical stripper before using a heat gun.