Kinda newbie question?

[Bob S]

Heading into my 5th season with Lovely Lady and I have never sanded her bottom. Each year I pressure washed and use one coat of West Marine CPP ablative paint. This year I am using West Marine PCA Gold. I read recently about paint chipping and it is happening to me where the pads are placed on her sides during winter storage. So far I washed and scraped all the loose paint off. I've wet sanded per Ross's recommendation using a dry wall handle and a 120 grit screen pad (thank you Ross you saved my back a lot of discomfort!). She looks pretty good. Here lies my question: How fine a grit do you sand down to? I'm not in a boat yard to ask others what they've done so I rely on this site for much of my knowledge.

 

[rpell1@msn.com]

Hi Bob,

The standard sandpaper for the bottom is 80 grit. But, I do have a suggestion that might prevent your chipping problem before it happens. At my Club, we found that tacking or gluing a piece of tight weave synthetic fiber carpeting to the top of the pad eliminates the chipping. No moisture builds up to freeze and thaw over the winter.

Good Luck and Happy Sailing.

Ralph

Heading into my 5th season with Lovely Lady and I have never sanded her bottom. Each year I pressure washed and use one coat of West Marine CPP ablative paint. This year I am using West Marine PCA Gold. I read recently about paint chipping and it is happening to me where the pads are placed on her sides during winter storage. So far I washed and scraped all the loose paint off. I've wet sanded per Ross's recommendation using a dry wall handle and a 120 grit screen pad (thank you Ross you saved my back a lot of discomfort!). She looks pretty good. Here lies my question: How fine a grit do you sand down to? I'm not in a boat yard to ask others what they've done so I rely on this site for much of my knowledge.

 

[higgs]

Are you racing - or do you intend on racing? This is an important question when servicing your bottom.

 

[Bob S]

Higgs,
No racing, I know I came here first for advise but I remembered many times reading Stu's recommending "West Marine Adviser" which is very helpful. I did do a search and read many threads. This is the first time sanding for me. I just want to make sure I do it right. I read that CPP is much softer than the PCA Gold and need a heavy sanding or stripping. i like Ralph's suggestion of padding the stands for winter storage.
I also Liked RichH's advise of thickening the paint with micro balloons and using a trowel to fill in the areas that chipped out.
I was going to order this to thicken a small amount of paint for touch up.
http://www.epoxyusa.com/microspheres_microballoons_p/ft25.htm
My wife complains I read SBOs too much but it's been an incredible resource for an inexperienced DIY boat owner.
Thanks everyone.