BAKING SODA Blasting is the latest thing.... $50/ft on average and your
bottom will look like new. I did sand blasting on my boat a few years
ago and 5 years later it needed a complete PEAL....

After removing all the bottom paint, start with 4 coats of 2000 and then
a coat or 2 of bottom paint.



MMC wrote:
I saw a 41' Island Trader that had the bottom blasted and the gelcoat was
pretty much destroyed, cracked and chunks missing. Hadn't seen that before
or since.
Think it might have been the quality of the gelcoat?
MMC
"Jim Conlin" wrote in message
...

Many years ago, we hired a yard to sandblast about 15 years of bottom

paint.

The resultant texture was a fine-grained sandstone. The first coat of

paint

filled it.
Thereafter, we sanded clean each year and ultimately switched to ablative
paint.
I'd suppose that there are less hostile blasting methods (walnut hulls,
soda?) and that a LOT depends on the care of the operator.
Were I to do it again, i'd instruct the operator to try for a 90% complete
job and i'd sand the rest.

\
"Ryk" wrote in message
. ..

On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 16:50:23 GMT, in message

"Dennis Pogson" wrote:


Most professionals use a heavy scraper if the paint is really hard and
brittle. It's a tiring job, but can be quicker than applying softener,

as

the paint flakes away in large chunks.

And be sure to get a scraper with a carbide blade. They out-perform
steel by a mile, especially if you don't an easy way to keep
resharpening the steel.

I used



http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...90,43040,43041

but it is still a big job...

Ryk

--
NewsGuy.Com 30Gb $9.95 Carry Forward and On Demand Bandwidth

could have been this or similar

http://www.claresmobile.com/index.html


Well, don't quit there... Tell us more ;-) Was it a power
scraping tool? Does he sell this tool?

Don W. == who has studiously been ignoring the bottom of
the Catalina for the last several years ;-)

In article ,
"Roger Long" wrote:

You may think I was trying to be a smart ass instead of helpful but,
trust me, whatever other method you used doing it yourself, you would
quickly conclude that I was being immensely helpful.

This might be more helpful. It the stuff isn't flaking off, just slap
another coat on and figure it out next year. Think of it as ballast.
Smaller boats have gone around the world with sheets of copper tacked
over the bottom with felt underneath. I little extra hull thickness
isn't going to hurt anything for cruising and nobody's going to see
it.

If it is flaking off, just knock of the loose stuff with a scraper and
have at it with the paint rollers.

--

Roger Long

I'm in full agreement with Roger. At most, I might sand the rougher
spots smoother. It's been there for a while, and probably has some
protective properties left. (Despite the manufacturer's instructions, I
got 3 years out of hard bottom paint that was dry 4-6 months a year.)

That said, when we got Xan a decade ago, we got into a deal with a
sandblasting guy who was going to be in the yard anyway. Any time that
winter/spring, didn't have to be perfect. Time and materials cost was
about $500. Gel got a little pocked, but nothing to worry about.

If I had to do it myself, friends swear by the carbide scraper.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

I have a 29' foot boat and I had a guy come out and sand blast it all
off
cost me about 300 beans


On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 15:18:27 GMT, "Thomas Wentworth"
wrote:

I looked at a boat this past weekend. There must have been twenty layers of
bottom paint. It was so thick, ....

I'm thinking ??? ,, how on earth does one get this bottom paint off.
Sanding will do the trick but I would think it might take a month.

What is the prefered method of bottom paint removal? What tools to use? Is
there a bottom paint removal substance?

After the bottom paint is removed, right down to the bare gelcoat ... about
August 1st .. joke there ..

After the bottom paint is removed,, what should be done? Put a thin coat
back on? Put on a coat of the sealer stuff?

Bottom paint doctors wanted ,, calling doctor Scrape, Sand, and Remove ,,
calling doctor Scrape, Sand and Remove ...