My boat hasn't had the bottom paint removed entirely since at least 2000.
It appears the former owner had the hull sanded as needed and another coat
of paint applied each season. I was considering having the bottom soda
blasted back to the gel coat and the painted. (the boat is in the water
year round). When the boat was out for the survey the hull checked out OK
but when you ran your hand over the bottom it certainly wasn't smooth. Does
this affect performance? Anybody have any advise on the soda blasting
technique? Any advise you could offer would be appreciated.
Andy

My friend had it done to a 35 footer and it was about $1500. I got a
bid for my 48 and it was $2000. I usually don't consider it required
until the paint starts pealing or coming off in sheets, or the weight of
the paint itself becomes an issue. I have owned my boat since 2000 and
I estimate there was about 3-5 years build up before that. last year I
had it "double sanded" to remove about 3-4 year buildup... bad idea...I
should of stripped it clean. After that much heat, etc, it started
coming off in sheets, now I have to do a full strip.

Smoothness to the touch would be more a function of how the paint was
applied and the type of paint. hard paints will feel rougher and soft
paints will feel like a bar of soap.

What kind of price estimates are you getting?

Ed

ed at estrobel dot com


Andy Saunders wrote:

My boat hasn't had the bottom paint removed entirely since at least 2000.
It appears the former owner had the hull sanded as needed and another coat
of paint applied each season. I was considering having the bottom soda
blasted back to the gel coat and the painted. (the boat is in the water
year round). When the boat was out for the survey the hull checked out OK
but when you ran your hand over the bottom it certainly wasn't smooth. Does
this affect performance? Anybody have any advise on the soda blasting
technique? Any advise you could offer would be appreciated.
Andy

Ed, thanks for the reply. I was quoted $1200 per day but he didn't actually
give me a figure for my boat. I figured about a day and a half. I have a
44 so based on your quote I guess I am in the ballpark. Do you think Soda
Blasting does a good job versus sanding? What do you think the cost of
stripping the bottom clean by sanding would be?

"Ed" wrote in message
.. .
My friend had it done to a 35 footer and it was about $1500. I got a bid
for my 48 and it was $2000. I usually don't consider it required until
the paint starts pealing or coming off in sheets, or the weight of the
paint itself becomes an issue. I have owned my boat since 2000 and I
estimate there was about 3-5 years build up before that. last year I had
it "double sanded" to remove about 3-4 year buildup... bad idea...I should
of stripped it clean. After that much heat, etc, it started coming off in
sheets, now I have to do a full strip.

Smoothness to the touch would be more a function of how the paint was
applied and the type of paint. hard paints will feel rougher and soft
paints will feel like a bar of soap.

What kind of price estimates are you getting?

Ed

ed at estrobel dot com


Andy Saunders wrote:

My boat hasn't had the bottom paint removed entirely since at least 2000.
It appears the former owner had the hull sanded as needed and another
coat of paint applied each season. I was considering having the bottom
soda blasted back to the gel coat and the painted. (the boat is in the
water year round). When the boat was out for the survey the hull checked
out OK but when you ran your hand over the bottom it certainly wasn't
smooth. Does this affect performance? Anybody have any advise on the
soda blasting technique? Any advise you could offer would be
appreciated.
Andy