REMOVAL OF PAINT WITHOUT DESTROYING GELCOAT

[sand sailor]

I WANT TO TRY AND RESTORE THE ORIGINAL GELCOAT OR BOND A NEW ONE TO THE OLD ONE WITHOUT DESTROYING IT BUT I HAVE TO GET PAST THE OLD PAINT TO GET TO IT.see the antifouling paint poorly applied to oxidizing paint i can chip it off in good sized pieceshey rich any ideas???

 

[Ross]

I stripped all of the paint off the bottom of

Bietzpadlin so that i could apply an epoxy barrier coat. I had great success with Peel-Away. It is incredibly messy to work with. In the process I learned to make my own version of the stuff, Nasty business but do able.

 

[Jim]

So what

most boats have piss poor bottom jobs. It is very tough to get all the wax off before painting the bottom. The bottom paint doesn't stick good to wax. I say live with it. It is not worth the headache to TRY and make it better. Just use good paint and touch up any problem areas. You'll be glad you listened to me.

 

[Steve Dion]

Peel Away to start with.

Peel Away is the way to go. Follow directions and the reports are good.A light sanding and wipe down with wax remover and you are good to start over. It would be good to epoxy the bottom before you start adding new bottom paint if you are going that far too.

 

[caguy]

Have you considered a water chipper?

These things develop a huge amount of concentrated pressure and knock off just about anything. I used it to strip the paint off from my trailer. I was able to do the job in less than an hour. Rented mine from Home Depot for $25. Worth every penny. I later used it to wash the boat with a different tip. Make sure that they give you the right tip. The Home Depot I went to did not include the most powerful tip unless you ask for it (safety issues).Frank

 

[RichH]

Why restore or replace the original gel coat ?????

The function of gelcoat is totally cosmetic ... nothing structural !!!!Even the matting layer that is used as a 'cushion' for gelcoat is also non structural. For underwater service gelcoat is totally unneeded, is 'superfluous' and is the place (between the gelcoat and underlayment of cosmetic matting) where eventual osmosis and hydrolysis will begin. go to yachtsurvey.com then look up the sections on 'blisters' etc. and then decide for yourself if you really want to preserve or restore the underwater gelcoat. Especially see the sections on how to 'destroy a hull' by improper coatings, improper DIY repairs, etc. If you plan to ever sell this boat in the future .... do it RIGHT as the resale price depends on the correct methods, etc. Usually its best to carefully grind away the old damaged/degraded gel ( but not into the matting underlayment) and then apply a proper barrier coat. If the current gel is intact then simply grind away the paint then put a barrier over the old gel. 

 

[John]

We scraped our paint off

I had som guys come over to the house and we had some bear and burgers i think there was 4 scrapeing and one wipeing with 202 solvent and grinding and sanding with a portacable orbital sander (great tool )i have three one for waxing one for sanding and one dustless unit.It took us about 6 hours to do a C 30I had to smooth some spots around the keel .The paint came off with a sharp scraper and small spanish guys .(they can stand under the boat)We rolled on 4 coats of Interprtect 2000 and three coats of bottom paint. The guys looked like smurfs when they where done.

 

[sand sailor]

i dont know what

kind of shape the gel coat is in because of the several layers of paint covering it not to mention the lack of prep work between layers the bottom paint is thick and was put on so with a roller (it shows) nice texture for a wall but not my boat.it doesn't glide through the water , it dragsi hope the same lack of care was taken when applying the first paint job so it wont damage the gel coat too much removing it alli'll probably use an epoxy primer then a couple of coats of awlgrip or the like to get the color i want and a glass finish p.s. the gel coat is the water tight epoxy seal that bonds with the existing fiberglass resin that protects from delamination and blisters its not just cosmetic