Peel Away Advice

[rgranger]

Hey All:

I need some first hand advice. I'm restoring an old Rhodes 22 and it has the ablating (chalky) bottom paint. I hate that stuff. It gets all over me and the kids when we climb in and out of the boat. And since I trailer sail and seldom leave my boat in the water for more than a week at at time, I really don't need (or want) toxic paint on my boat. And since it sits out of the water a lot, the bottom paint is probably not doing a lot of good anyway.

So here is my question.... approximately how much peel away will I need to order to cover a 22' boat bottom? The stuff is expensive so I don't want to buy more than I need .... and I want to order enough to get the job done. It comes in 1.25 gal and then 5 gal and then up by increments of 5 gal.

Thanks in advance,

r

 

[All U Get]

Hi rgranger,
I worked stripping 10 coats off the bottom of our Catalina 30 last year and we used soy gel on one side (4 gallons) and other strippers like HD Marine paint stripper and Hamilton Marine bottom stripper with fabric on the other side (4 gallons). They gave a coverage area on the buckets which was ~100 square feet. Our best performer was Hamilton Marine bottom stripper with fabric, one coat did it with the help of an overnight rain that made it drop onto a ground tarp.
All U Get

 

[rgranger]

Thanks All U Get...

So it looks like you suggest the Peel Away type removers ...

I went to Hamilton and found their bottom paint removers but none of the descriptions I read had a paper application involved. ?

 

[djplatt@cogeco.ca]

Have you considered sanding? It's time consuming but inexpensive. Anti fouling should come off easily.

 

[rgranger]

Have you considered sanding? It's time consuming but inexpensive. Anti fouling should come off easily.

Yes actually I have... been there and done that... and I made myself sick from the dust.

And I don't want the dust in my yard either.... so I want a way to collect the bottom paint.

But thanks for the input.

 

[Ross]

Peel away is a paste made of sodium hydroxide water and hydrated lime. Make a 30 % solution of sodium hydroxide and water and mix it will enough Hydraated lime to make a trowelable paste. Be warned that it will take your skin off.

 

[rgranger]

Peel away is a paste made of sodium hydroxide water and hydrated lime. Make a 30 % solution of sodium hydroxide and water and mix it will enough Hydraated lime to make a trowelable paste. Be warned that it will take your skin off.

Ross... that is good to know.... I have access to a lot of potassium hydroxide... so I'll substitute that instead. If I get some on the grass it will just act as a fertilizer.


When you say hydrated lime, do you mean slaked lime {Ca(OH)2} or the lime one puts on their yards? I'm guessing the former.

And would it be possible to use an old bed sheet for the cloth (pull away) or some gauze?

What think you?

 

[tommays]

wax paper may work as the objective is to stop the water from evaporation while the paste works

 

[Ross]

I have used coated freezer paper. You want to inhibit drying.

 

[CharlieCobra]

We've used .3 mil plastic drop cloths to good effect with it as well.

 

[rgranger]

We've used .3 mil plastic drop cloths to good effect with it as well.

Thanks guys... you all are great... and I have a bunch of visqueen (plastic sheeting) in my shed.

I think I'm set to go.... I already have the ingredients to make my paste (I'm a chemist )

So now I know what I'm doing tomorrow instead of raking leaves...

 

[kpgraci]

... and I made myself sick from the dust.

Oh yeah, you'll want to use a good quality respirator when doing that kind of work for sure.

 

[rgranger]

Oh yeah, you'll want to use a good quality respirator when doing that kind of work for sure.

Definitely. I got the bulk off with that citrus stripper and a scrapper then sanded the last few spots off.... I had a dust mask but it was not sufficient. I hope this method works better. Seems like it should.

 

[kenn]

Thumbs-down on the sanding. Hard work, toxic for you, toxic for the environment, and not so nice to the gelcoat either.

After several tests I opted for soy stripper to remove the ancient bottom paint from our small 19' boat. It is slower-acting than some other harsher strippers (as confirmed by All U Get), but it was safer to handle and apply, easier to scrape/scrub off, and is water-soluble - you can even pressure-wash it off (be sure to catch the runoff). It was very kind to the gelcoat!

 

[Ross]

Why are people dry sanding the outside of boats? There is no shortage of waterproof abrasive material and with wet sanding you don't get clogs on the paper. Sanding screen on a pole is excellant when used with a five gallon bucket of water.

 

[caguy]

Have you considered using a pressure washer. When stripping paint or varnish I usually hit it with the 2500psi pressure washer after using the stripper and it works well.
BTW thanks for the info on using potasium hydroxide as a substitute.

I am curious about just how toxic bottom paint is to the environment anyway. It is my understanding that the active ingredient is copper metal. Are copper flakes in metallic form really that toxic to the environment or is it something in the substrate that is a concern?

I hate that blue ablative paint as well. I borrowed a rudder from Novelman a few years back and got that paint all over myself. When I rebottemed the Luger I used WM red bottom paint that that is much harder and does not rub off. Since its a trailer sailer it won't be in the water for longer that a few weeks anyway. I also have it in black on the Cat27 and it can crawl around under it without getting smudged. On the C27 (also a tailer sailer) I was able to hit that with the power washer and knock off the ablative paint without affecting the barrier coat. I applied the bottom paint over that and I am very happy with the outcome.

 

[rgranger]

Love those colors

CaGuy

I like the orange sides with the red bottom. What paint did you use for the sides?

 

[caguy]

CaGuy

I like the orange sides with the red bottom. What paint did you use for the sides?

The topside gelcoat is still pretty good. So I will leave it for a season or two, but I would eventually like to paint it dark blue. and leave the deck white. The first post was just the bottom. Here is a shot that is not so tight. The blue line is masking tape. I have since added a 3" dk blue boat stipe.

As a Chemist what is your take on the toxicity of copper flakes in bottom paint.

 

[BobM]

Bonus! May dissolve the leaves too!

 

[rgranger]

As a Chemist what is your take on the toxicity of copper flakes in bottom paint.

It looks nice.... so was the orange just a primer?

Copper is an essential nutrient (see the label on your vitamin pills) but I am not a biochemist. My specialties are analytical and inorganic chemistry. However too much of anything is bad for you so I'd still avoid breathing the copper dust. It would not take much of that to far exceed the normal amount in you body.

I've been experimenting with dissolving caffeine and nicotine in paint thinner and then adding that to rustoleum paint. Both of these compounds are produced by plants as a defense against insect attach and fungal growth. So far my bottom paint has remained growth free... but the longest I've left it in the water was one week so I don't have enough data to say that it works for sure yet. I'd like to find someone on the bay who would let me send them a few test strips on fiberglass and we could hang them in the water for a month or so and see what happens. It might make a nice "green" alternative to copper bottom paint and give those tobacco farmers another market.