A pal of mine is renovating a 1950s wooden 42-footer originally built
as a trawler but later fitted with a gaff rig.

He's currently tackling the deck, which is in a pretty rough state.
It's covered in old anti-fouling paint which is peeling and needs
removing.

It's a nightmare to sand as the surface is very uneven. And because
there are large amounts of pitch between the boards, any sanding pad or
belt becomes clogged with the stuff after just a few minutes.

I'd wondered whether it might make sense to try a power plane on it,
and just skim off a couple of mil - though I also wondered whether the
pitch might clog that up too.

Anyone got any bright ideas on how best to get it back to clean, bare
wood - preferably without spending all year over it?

Currently he's having to burn off the top layer of paint, scrape, burn
again, then try to sand.

wrote:
A pal of mine is renovating a 1950s wooden 42-footer originally built
as a trawler but later fitted with a gaff rig.

He's currently tackling the deck, which is in a pretty rough state.
It's covered in old anti-fouling paint which is peeling and needs
removing.

It's a nightmare to sand as the surface is very uneven. And because
there are large amounts of pitch between the boards, .....etc....
Anyone got any bright ideas on how best to get it back to clean, bare
wood - preferably without spending all year over it?


Gareth-
Aside from trying to make it look pretty, is there any good reason to
remove the workboat deck coating which presumably has kept the water
from belowdecks and the crew from slipping overboard for the past 50+
years?

I'm just assuming that there isn't a thick teak deck hidden under that
pitch, but I may well be wrong.

Cheers

John

wrote:
Currently he's having to burn off the top layer of paint, scrape, burn
again, then try to sand.

Hi:

I watched my dad nearly burn our home to the ground doing as you
describe above. He wanted to paint the house. He tried the flames,
heat, bubble, scrape method. The problem was that a bit of an ember got
lodged in the lap of the exterior wood siding. I woke up at 2 AM with
my bedroom half filled with smoke.

If you use flames be VERY careful. That is, ask yourself:
(pitch + cotton calking + flames) = __________?

Can you see bare wood under the paint? Some decks were covered with
canvas and then painted several times over. That would make a pretty
fire.

I like the other post's comment, "if it worked for 50 years...." I
still remember a surgeon's comment I overheard from the operating
room, "better is the enemy of good..., good enough...."

Bob

PS Might try chemicals and a HazMat Moon suit.

Try the scraper attachment on a Fein Multimaster:

http://www.feinus.com/multimaster/index.html

wrote:
A pal of mine is renovating a 1950s wooden 42-footer originally
built as a trawler but later fitted with a gaff rig.

He's currently tackling the deck, which is in a pretty rough state.
It's covered in old anti-fouling paint which is peeling and needs
removing.

It's a nightmare to sand as the surface is very uneven. And because
there are large amounts of pitch between the boards, any sanding
pad or belt becomes clogged with the stuff after just a few minutes.

I'd wondered whether it might make sense to try a power plane on it,
and just skim off a couple of mil - though I also wondered whether
the pitch might clog that up too.

I once had a sailboat on which the previous owner had applied a liquid
"rubber" coating to the trunk cabin deck. I wanted to remove same,
put down a layer of ply and fiberglass over. The rubber wouldn't sand
well conventionally, tried a power plane...it worked better but still
would have taken forever. I wound up using a disk sander with a very
open #16 grit.


--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

On 16 Aug 2006 08:07:13 -0700, wrote:

A pal of mine is renovating a 1950s wooden 42-footer originally built
as a trawler but later fitted with a gaff rig.

He's currently tackling the deck, which is in a pretty rough state.
It's covered in old anti-fouling paint which is peeling and needs
removing.

It's a nightmare to sand as the surface is very uneven. And because
there are large amounts of pitch between the boards, any sanding pad or
belt becomes clogged with the stuff after just a few minutes.

I'd wondered whether it might make sense to try a power plane on it,
and just skim off a couple of mil - though I also wondered whether the
pitch might clog that up too.

Anyone got any bright ideas on how best to get it back to clean, bare
wood - preferably without spending all year over it?

Currently he's having to burn off the top layer of paint, scrape, burn
again, then try to sand.

Might be worth trying an electric scraper:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=23036&src=froogle
http://www.axminster.co.uk/src/froogle/product-Bosch-PSE-180E-Scraper-Blades-31520.htm

If using a blowtorch get a big one that runs off a bottle, use a razor
sharp shavehook, stay upwind or use breathing protection, and have
fire fighting equipment on hand.

For getting some of the pitch out of seams it might be worth trying a
small router with a guide.

cheers,
Pete.

wrote:
Anyone got any bright ideas on how best to get it back to clean, bare
wood - preferably without spending all year over it?


Try a 3000 psi spray washer. Any point left on the wood most likely has
a good grip.

Test it out first to detrmine the size/type of nozzel. With the wrong
nozzel type you can cut the wood not just blow off the paint.
Bob

Have you tried an angle grinder with a copper brush cup? When the brush
gets clogged just toss it into a fire to remove the gunk. Might work and
cheap enough to try.

Arnold

wrote in message
ups.com...
A pal of mine is renovating a 1950s wooden 42-footer originally built
as a trawler but later fitted with a gaff rig.

He's currently tackling the deck, which is in a pretty rough state.
It's covered in old anti-fouling paint which is peeling and needs
removing.

It's a nightmare to sand as the surface is very uneven. And because
there are large amounts of pitch between the boards, any sanding pad or
belt becomes clogged with the stuff after just a few minutes.

I'd wondered whether it might make sense to try a power plane on it,
and just skim off a couple of mil - though I also wondered whether the
pitch might clog that up too.

Anyone got any bright ideas on how best to get it back to clean, bare
wood - preferably without spending all year over it?

Currently he's having to burn off the top layer of paint, scrape, burn
again, then try to sand.