Stripping Bottom Paint

John Stone · Post by **John Stone** » Mar 8th, '21, 12:53

Anyone ever use Peel Away Marine Safety Strip for removing bottom paint? If so What is your opinion on its effectiveness? Under what conditions did you use it? Recommendations to techniques after using it? All the normal questions.... Thanks for any info you can share based on personal experience.

http://m.dumondchemicals.com/pro-peel-a ... overs.html

https://www.practical-sailor.com/boat-m ... t-stripper

Frenchy · Post by **Frenchy** » Mar 8th, '21, 14:51

I used it once, years ago. It removed a fair amount of paint, but not all. If you have several layers, it definitely won't
get them all off. It's also messy, as you can imagine. Expensive is another adjective I would use. Also, it takes time to
apply the remover and then cover it.
Nowadays, I use a random orbital sander with vacuum attached. For really thick paint, I've used a 2" chisel with the
corners slighly rounded. - Jean

Jim Walsh · Post by **Jim Walsh** » Mar 8th, '21, 15:58

I considered using a chemical stripper but they required certain temperatures to work optimally and they had to be covered with some form of barrier material to keep from drying out prior to removal. I ended up using two hand scrapers (with removable carbide blades) to get the paint off and finished up with an orbital sander (with a vacuum) to get a uniform smooth finish to the gel coat. I let it sit naked till spring and applied the barrier coats once the weather cooperated. It was not fun but it builds character.

John Stone · Post by **John Stone** » Mar 8th, '21, 16:26

Jim Walsh wrote:It was not fun but it builds character.

That’s the theme song of my life.

As I was taught from an early age...“It’s easy to be hard and hard to be smart. But if you’re stupid you better be hard.” So here’s to being hard.

John Stone · Post by **John Stone** » Mar 10th, '21, 14:00

So I did a little test. I scraped for exactly 15 Min. Not difficult. Rounded the edges of the carbide blades on a grinder.

Thanks for making a compelling case Jim W. Looks like the way forward.

When I had the bubbling in the Awlgrip along the waterline a few years back Interlux gave me, in addition to all the awlgrip I needed to repaint the topsides, two gallons of hard bottom paint and two gallons of Interprotect 2000 that’s been sitting in my shop. So, the plan is to remove the Interlux Micron CSC ablative with a scraper. Sand. Apply new barrier coat. Roll on the two gallons of Blue Interlux Ultra Kote. Sail for a season or two then apply CSC ablative from then on.

AMcC · Post by **AMcC** » Mar 11th, '21, 10:25

I did a bunch of research on removing bottom paint last year. The conclusion I came to is to follow the pros - use a random orbital sander, a shop vac setup for dust (which works quite well - you can get and use one of those cyclone dust collectors if you like), and the key - 40 grit mesh sanding discs.

John Stone · Post by **John Stone** » Mar 11th, '21, 10:42

AMcC wrote:I did a bunch of research on removing bottom paint last year. The conclusion I came to is to follow the pros - use a random orbital sander, a shop vac setup for dust (which works quite well - you can get and use one of those cyclone dust collectors if you like), and the key - 40 grit mesh sanding discs.

Got all that. Done all that. When you hot coat bottom paint to the last coat of epoxy barrier coat it is like steel. You will exhaust yourself holding a double action random orbital against the hull. I barely made progress. Also, the yard requires tenting if you are “sanding” off bottom paint...even with a dust collector. But scraping is a free ride as far as the yard is concerned. I think this is going to work well. Once scraped, I can then finish sand with my RO, vacuum, and small cyclone as no tenting is required after the paint is removed.

Let’s see how it goes. I’ll report back.

John Stone · Post by **John Stone** » Mar 11th, '21, 11:52

Another thought I meant to add but forgot is I have spent a lot of time in a paper suit and respirator during our long rebuild. Even with a dust collector it’s just nasty business to be wearing all that stuff and listening to the wail of a grinder and vacuum for hours on end. It’s so bad I would submit most pros don’t even do it. They hire someone to soda blast or use whatever is the day’s popular blasting medium. All these reasons are why I wondered about the peel away as an alternative. But as others have said, it just kinda works.

To be fair, when I initially stripped the paint from the Far Reach in 2009 I sanded it with an RO, paper suit, respirator, vacuum etc. It only took 8 hours and while it was hard it wasn’t horrible. But that was old paint on fiberglass. No hot coated barrier coat to contend with. When I tried it again a couple years ago—totally different experience.

Typhoon4Fun · Post by **Typhoon4Fun** » Mar 12th, '21, 14:24

John Stone wrote:So I did a little test. I scraped for exactly 15 Min. Not difficult. Rounded the edges of the carbide blades on a grinder.

Thanks for making a compelling case Jim W. Looks like the way forward.

When I had the bubbling in the Awlgrip along the waterline a few years back Interlux gave me, in addition to all the awlgrip I needed to repaint the topsides, two gallons of hard bottom paint and two gallons of Interprotect 2000 that’s been sitting in my shop. So, the plan is to remove the Interlux Micron CSC ablative with a scraper. Sand. Apply new barrier coat. Roll on the two gallons of Blue Interlux Ultra Kote. Sail for a season or two then apply CSC ablative from then on.

off topic but using pool noodles to keep the tarp lines off the hull (as visible in the photo you attached to this post) is a brilliant solution that I will definitely be using next season..

John Stone · Post by **John Stone** » Mar 13th, '21, 23:06

The pool noodles have worked pretty well.

Today I painted some of shelving along the edge grain where I modified them to accommodate the exhaust hose. A couple days ago i applied epoxy to the edge grain of the plywood. So this was just paint over the epoxy.

I scraped bottom paint for 1.5 hours today. Not hard. Made good progress.
The light great spots are where I tested my DA RO sander to smooth out the barrier coat. Not to bad.

John Stone · Post by **John Stone** » Mar 15th, '21, 17:45

Starboard side scraped. Exactly 4 hours 45 min.

tjr818 · Post by **tjr818** » Mar 15th, '21, 22:42

You do a great cleanup job too. Vacuum?

John Stone · Post by **John Stone** » Mar 16th, '21, 04:58

No vacuum. I laid out a 12’ long plastic tarp that I move along with me. When I finished scraping i dumped the residue into a trash bag inside a metal trash can. I wear a pair of shop coveralls, gloves, mask. It’s a little messy for me but not bad. Way less painful than power sanding botttom paint. I still need to sand but it should not be too bad.

John Stone · Post by **John Stone** » Mar 23rd, '21, 14:40

Now working on the port side. I have about 3 hours on this side.

John Stone · Post by **John Stone** » Mar 24th, '21, 14:47

A good time was not had by all. But it was not terrible. I have done much much worse. About 4:30 total for port side. Let’s call it 10 hours for both sides.

I still need to sand by I am thinking it won’t be too bad. I have two sanders I plan to use. My very tough and aggressive Porter Cable DA RO and a light weight Dewalt RO. Both 5”. I’ll use 40 grit.

I’ll bring my mini cyclone and shop vac. I want to get this done before it gets too hot.

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