Bottom paint removal

[Rob H.]

I have a 79 C27 with years of build up of bottom paint. Does any one have any experince with products to strip paint or do I need to just have at it with a random orbit sander.

 

[Bill]

Soda Blast

You could try "Soda Blasting" depending on whether your yard will allow the procedure. There various articles on the subject on the internet and you should be able to find a local contractor with the equipment through your Yellow Pages.

 

[Jim S.]

Peel Away

I used Peel Away on a 28 ft boat with a soft ablative bottom coat with good success. Had to be sure the material was on the boat for a sufficient amount of time to work properly. Ninety five percent of the paint came away with the paper. The remainder needed a light scraping and water. It really beat sanding.

 

[Steve Franklin]

Scraper works fine!

One of my MANY projects this winter is to apply new bottom paint. I used an almost-sharp 1 inch chisel to remove about 8 layers of old bottom paint. Completely scraping off the bottom took about 20 hours total time. Great workout, so don't plan on more than 2-3 hours at a time unless you're a regular fitness nut. 80 grit vacuum sanding took care of the residual. I made much faster progress than the "sander-only" guy a few boats down from mine. Just be a little careful to avoid gouging the gel-coat. By the way, the boat yard where I am prohibits chemical stripping due to constant battles with the EPA.