Smooth 31 year old bottom revealed!

[Jim Walsh]

Jim:

Thanks. Wow, those look like formidable scrapers (and/or weapons )

Now I can visualize why your bottom had so many "scrape lines". That must have been one heck of a project on a CD 31.

Eventually, in 2-3 years, if I am still the caretaker of S/V Bali Ha'i, I too will want to remove years of bottom paint. I am not sure I will be following in your "scraping" footsteps.

Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo

Yup. There's a whole lotta square footage to deal with. In a couple more hours I can have the first half done. I hope the weather remains in my favor for a few more days. If I'm lucky all I'll have to do in the spring is the precision work with the sander around the waterline and I'll be ready to begin the application process. That part of this project will be a treat by comparison.

[jbenagh]

Impressive! I paid to soda blast last year. You are doing a ton of hard labor. Kudos.

Jeff

[Steve Laume]

I feel your pain. This is one time you wish you had a fin keel boat. The other is whenever you are trying to back up in a direction you want to go.

I did this for Raven when I first got her, so I know what you are going through. Half way through the job two boats got soda blasted in the yard near me. For a while I was doubting my decision to scrape and sand. In the end I was glad I did. The soda blasting is fast and effortless, if someone else does the job. By scraping and sanding you get to look at every inch of your hull. Raven's hull had also been faired at some point and I doubt that the soda blaster would have been able to keep the faired areas intact. It also leaves a much more porous surface and is bound to take off a bit more gel coat.

I questioned weather or not to add a barrier coat or not. I did the same job on my old Ty and painted directly over the gel coat. On Raven I decided to go with the barrier coat and put on three coats. I don't know if it was due to not wiping the hull down well enough or a lack of build up as the three coats were fairly thin but I now get some tiny blisters that are only under the barrier coat. Make sure to prep well and don't skimp on the thickness.

Every time I haul and paint the bottom I am grateful that I I took the time and made the effort to get all of that old paint off of there. I reduced the weight of and added at least a half a knot to my boat speed. Well maybe not that last part but it sure feels good, Steve.

[grluecke]

Hey, yeah, when you are done, can you get to mine?

[Jim Walsh]

I feel your pain. This is one time you wish you had a fin keel boat. The other is whenever you are trying to back up in a direction you want to go.

I did this for Raven when I first got her, so I know what you are going through. Half way through the job two boats got soda blasted in the yard near me. For a while I was doubting my decision to scrape and sand. In the end I was glad I did. The soda blasting is fast and effortless, if someone else does the job. By scraping and sanding you get to look at every inch of your hull. Raven's hull had also been faired at some point and I doubt that the soda blaster would have been able to keep the faired areas intact. It also leaves a much more porous surface and is bound to take off a bit more gel coat.

I questioned weather or not to add a barrier coat or not. I did the same job on my old Ty and painted directly over the gel coat. On Raven I decided to go with the barrier coat and put on three coats. I don't know if it was due to not wiping the hull down well enough or a lack of build up as the three coats were fairly thin but I now get some tiny blisters that are only under the barrier coat. Make sure to prep well and don't skimp on the thickness.

Every time I haul and paint the bottom I am grateful that I I took the time and made the effort to get all of that old paint off of there. I reduced the weight of and added at least a half a knot to my boat speed. Well maybe not that last part but it sure feels good, Steve.

I checked with the fiberglass repair and painting pro's at the yard and they said I should do three coats of InterProtect. I trust their advice so that's my plan.
I've been advised that my bottom will be so smooth and slick when I'm done that it may be advisable to install an air brake (in this case "water" brake) so I can deploy it to slow me down when approaching land.....similar to the thrust reversers deployed on jet aircraft to slow them down for landing.
I hope I don't have to install a tail hook on my keel and an arresting wire in my slip.

[Jim Walsh]

Hey, yeah, when you are done, can you get to mine?

Once my boat is done I'd be happy to act as a consultant.....my duties and responsibilities will be limited to sitting around and critiquing as YOU work on your boat
I have my own set of gawkers. I think they stop by to see if I'm still alive.......

[David van den Burgh]

I don't know if it was due to not wiping the hull down well enough or a lack of build up as the three coats were fairly thin but I now get some tiny blisters that are only under the barrier coat. Make sure to prep well and don't skimp on the thickness.

Steve,

Do the blisters look like this?: https://youtu.be/K-xYaHktnUY This was Ariel's hull at haulout this year. She's been like this every year since we acquired her. It was the PO who did the barrier job - with Interprotect. I wouldn't do it again unless the boat had been stored indoors and the hull adequately dried. I know the issue of barrier coating is about as controversial as wheels vs tillers and locked vs unlocked props, but my experience has not been favorable - and it sounds like your experience suggests that the barrier coat isn't doing what it was supposed to do either. I realize that there are several variables to consider and that one example -my boat - doesn't make a solid case, but unless the hull can be properly prepped and dried, and the necessary mils of Interprotect (or similar) applied, barrier coating is likely to be an expensive disappointment.

[pat strohmeyer]

I feel Jim's pain, as I to have just finished scrapping 31 years worth of bottom paint off my Cape Dory 31 White Dragon. I used carbide scrappers like the ones in Jim's photo. I had the best luck with a 2 inch wide scrapper from Painters Choice brand. With the curve it only cuts about 3/4 of an inch at a time, and rarely digs into the gellcoat. I put down 4 mil plastic and just rolled up paint flakes and all and disposed of it properly.

[Jim Walsh]

I don't know if it was due to not wiping the hull down well enough or a lack of build up as the three coats were fairly thin but I now get some tiny blisters that are only under the barrier coat. Make sure to prep well and don't skimp on the thickness.

Steve,

Do the blisters look like this?: https://youtu.be/K-xYaHktnUY This was Ariel's hull at haulout this year. She's been like this every year since we acquired her. It was the PO who did the barrier job - with Interprotect. I wouldn't do it again unless the boat had been stored indoors and the hull adequately dried. I know the issue of barrier coating is about as controversial as wheels vs tillers and locked vs unlocked props, but my experience has not been favorable - and it sounds like your experience suggests that the barrier coat isn't doing what it was supposed to do either. I realize that there are several variables to consider and that one example -my boat - doesn't make a solid case, but unless the hull can be properly prepped and dried, and the necessary mils of Interprotect (or similar) applied, barrier coating is likely to be an expensive disappointment.

David,
That video is scary. If that happens to me, after all the effort I'm putting in, I'll have a heart attack. I have no evidence of osmotic blistering. I'm just applying a barrier coat as insurance since the current prevailing opinion is that it is best to apply an epoxy primer to gelcoat prior to applying antifouling. The local pro's in my boatyard feel that letting the gelcoat "rest" over the winter will provide an optimal surface for coating in the spring.

[Sea Hunt Video]

Jim:

I like your new quotation at the end of your posts.

[Jeff and Sarah]

After going down the same path as Jim and doing it manually, then paying to have the gel coat planed off anyway, I too will be very disappointed to see a barrier coat failure like that in the video! I launched late this year (August) and am keeping the boat in the water over the winter but plan a quick haul in March to clean and visually inspect the bottom to see how it has held up. I did let the boat dry out for over 6 months between haul out and putting on the barrier coat- a moisture meter showed it was about as dry as an old boat can ever be. I'll keep my fingers crossed for now though, I suppose!

[David van den Burgh]

David,
That video is scary. If that happens to me, after all the effort I'm putting in, I'll have a heart attack. I have no evidence of osmotic blistering. I'm just applying a barrier coat as insurance since the current prevailing opinion is that it is best to apply an epoxy primer to gelcoat prior to applying antifouling. The local pro's in my boatyard feel that letting the gelcoat "rest" over the winter will provide an optimal surface for coating in the spring.

Jim,

It is a major task. I scraped/sanded Ariel's ablative a year or two after we bought her; it wasn't fun - and I was 30 then. I hope your bottom job turns out well. Stack the odds in your favor by approaching the application as methodically as you've attacked the bottom paint removal. You're doing great work.

David

[Steve Laume]

I don't know if it was due to not wiping the hull down well enough or a lack of build up as the three coats were fairly thin but I now get some tiny blisters that are only under the barrier coat. Make sure to prep well and don't skimp on the thickness.

Steve,

Do the blisters look like this?: https://youtu.be/K-xYaHktnUY This was Ariel's hull at haulout this year. She's been like this every year since we acquired her. It was the PO who did the barrier job - with Interprotect. I wouldn't do it again unless the boat had been stored indoors and the hull adequately dried. I know the issue of barrier coating is about as controversial as wheels vs tillers and locked vs unlocked props, but my experience has not been favorable - and it sounds like your experience suggests that the barrier coat isn't doing what it was supposed to do either. I realize that there are several variables to consider and that one example -my boat - doesn't make a solid case, but unless the hull can be properly prepped and dried, and the necessary mils of Interprotect (or similar) applied, barrier coating is likely to be an expensive disappointment.

The blisters that appear on Raven are exactly like those in the video, except a good bit smaller. More like a pimple than a blister. They are mostly at the bow but are widely scattered in some other areas. Same makeup. When I sand through them I get nice clean gel coat. Raven did have one blister at the waterline on the port side. I fixed that with epoxy and it has never been a problem since.

The barrier coat blisters are more of a disappointment than a problem. It just kind of burns me a bit that I tried to do the best I could and it created a problem that never existed before. The only reason I put on any barrier coat is that I thought I might have reduced the thickness of the original gel coat by sanding it. It must have done once before when they did the fairing job so I wasn't sure how much was left. It seems there must be plenty as I have never seen any area where it was sanded through.

When I stripped down my Typhoon I didn't use a barrier coat and it was fine for the years I sailed her afterward. I don't know what the best advice is but If I had it to do over again, I would either put on a whole lot more barrier coat or non at all, Steve.

[Jim Walsh]

I don't know if it was due to not wiping the hull down well enough or a lack of build up as the three coats were fairly thin but I now get some tiny blisters that are only under the barrier coat. Make sure to prep well and don't skimp on the thickness.

Steve,

Do the blisters look like this?: https://youtu.be/K-xYaHktnUY This was Ariel's hull at haulout this year. She's been like this every year since we acquired her. It was the PO who did the barrier job - with Interprotect. I wouldn't do it again unless the boat had been stored indoors and the hull adequately dried. I know the issue of barrier coating is about as controversial as wheels vs tillers and locked vs unlocked props, but my experience has not been favorable - and it sounds like your experience suggests that the barrier coat isn't doing what it was supposed to do either. I realize that there are several variables to consider and that one example -my boat - doesn't make a solid case, but unless the hull can be properly prepped and dried, and the necessary mils of Interprotect (or similar) applied, barrier coating is likely to be an expensive disappointment.

The blisters that appear on Raven are exactly like those in the video, except a good bit smaller. More like a pimple than a blister. They are mostly at the bow but are widely scattered in some other areas. Same makeup. When I sand through them I get nice clean gel coat. Raven did have one blister at the waterline on the port side. I fixed that with epoxy and it has never been a problem since.

The barrier coat blisters are more of a disappointment than a problem. It just kind of burns me a bit that I tried to do the best I could and it created a problem that never existed before. The only reason I put on any barrier coat is that I thought I might have reduced the thickness of the original gel coat by sanding it. It must have done once before when they did the fairing job so I wasn't sure how much was left. It seems there must be plenty as I have never seen any area where it was sanded through.

When I stripped down my Typhoon I didn't use a barrier coat and it was fine for the years I sailed her afterward. I don't know what the best advice is but If I had it to do over again, I would either put on a whole lot more barrier coat or non at all, Steve.

If anyone has a recommendation on how many coats of barrier should be applied I'm open to all ideas. The local pro at the boatyard told me they apply three, but two owners have stopped by to watch me work and have told me their stories. One owner, with a 33 foot powerboat, applied 5 coats of InterProtect, while another owner, with a 39 foot Beneteau, applied 6 coats of InterProtect! My whole object here is to have a smooth bottom, not to pinch pennies. I would gladly apply 4, 5, or 6 coats if that's what my CDSOA friends consider prudent.

[Skeep]

Jim, you're doing a fine job up there! I did my Typhoon about the same way with some variations. I came to agreement with my expectations and, like you, found enjoyment in the arduous process. It's a journey not a race! El Nino is with you on your work schedule, how convenient!