Bottom paint dust all over the bow of my boat

[searaycruisn]

Last fall, the guy whose boat was placed next to mine once out of the water, decided to sand his bottom down to the gel coat. In doing so, he created so much paint dust, and of course he did not put a skirt on his boat.

Well I went down there shortly after he finished sanding and saw that all that paint dust had settled on my boat, at which point I called the yard. The yard said they would go down right away and wash my boat.

On Friday (now springtime), I had my boat detailed, and there is a black film all over the flat surfaces of my boat including the bow area and the swim platform.

The boat detailer is going to go back to the boat this week to see what he can do to get the black film off my boat.

Anyone ever had this happen? Any ideas on how to clean up this mess?

 

[fwebster]

Yes, it is a common problem when you leave a boat in a yard that allows do-it-yourself bottom work. The only way to avoid it, and that isn't 100% is to wash the boat every evening after the sanding is done for the day.

The only way to get the painf off is to scour the gelcoat and even use a degreaser. Now that you have waxed the boat, you have sealed the black residue into the gelcoat. You will have to strip all the wax/polish off then clean the boat with ammonia, white wall tire cleaner , etc. then buff out the damage and re-apply the polish.

Good luck............

 

[searaycruisn]

My detailer just called me.

He said, like you said Frank, that he needs to remove the wax, scrub off the paint stain, and rewax the bow and swim platform.

He said that he has already gotten it off the swim platform.

 

[Dancin Dave]

send the bill to your dumbass neighbor.

 

[Skuza]

We had the same thing happen to us a couple years ago only WE were the idiots. We had the boat all detailed and ready to go when we decided to touch up the bottom paint. We sanded down the bad areas and all the dust settled on the top decks. The next days morning dew softened the dust and it bit into the gelcoat. I rubbed and scrubbed and let the sun do some work and it eventually came off. If you have any chalking on your topsides it makes it easier for the paint to bite in. You may think your topsides aren't chalky but remember that gelcoat is porous by nature. The least little porosity will soak up any stains and thats why they don't wipe off.
We had a dumba$$ this year with the biggest piece in the yard dry docked right behind us this year and I came down to see blue dust all around his boat. I freaked out knowing the possibilities but we lucked out and nothing happened. It is definately something worth arguing about as you can tell.

 

[280 SeaRay]

You may find detailing clay may remove the crud pretty well. MarineMax's sloppy spray job with black gel coat left tiny little specs of black on the white gel area directly above the repair area. Detailing clay with plenty of lubricant removed all it. Detailing clay will also remove paint the nice contractors dumped on the road from your car/truck. Clay removes wax as well so a re-wax is required.

 

[wileecoyote]

I now have the same problem. It is no longer dust, it is like a grey shadow in the gelcoat. I can wetsand the smooth surfaces and it come off (seems like it's in the oxidized layer). I have yet to do the top layers, I wetsanded and buffed the rubrail down. My problem is how to get the greying out of the non slip surfaces on the top deck. I tried washing it with soap and water and thats when it turned grey. I'm guessing it got in the water and ran into the oxidation. Jeremy, I've never used a detailing clay, will that work for this?:smt021

 

[berth control]

Wille - my topsides seem to soak up everything too :smt013

I also polished/wheeled out and waxed the hull from the rubrail down, and installed some new rub rail this spring. If the clay works well maybe I can try it on my topsides, so let me know. For now I have given up on the topsides - a couple beers and it doesn't look so bad any more.

 

[wileecoyote]

Wille - my topsides seem to soak up everything too :smt013

I also polished/wheeled out and waxed the hull from the rubrail down, and installed some new rub rail this spring. If the clay works well maybe I can try it on my topsides, so let me know. For now I have given up on the topsides - a couple beers and it doesn't look so bad any more.

Oh, mine looks TERRIBLE now. It is grey! Not just a slight hint, but really grey. Wish I had a hose I could use. The closest tap is about 400 Ft. I may try to run a bunch of hoses together, maybe I'll get a dribble.

 

[berth control]

maybe I'll get a dribble.

that's what she said!!!!!!!:smt043:smt043:smt043:smt043:smt043

 

[wileecoyote]

HAHA:smt043
Guess I'll wetsand the flat spots and try buffing the non slip. Maybe I'll find somewhere to get this detailing clay and see what it does. I'm guessing its similar to wetsanding but the clay is somewhat flexible? Maybe Jeremy will explain it, I know he always talks about it. Now my new bottom paint will have white streaks from the wetsanding:smt021 I did the rubrail down for that reason. The dust sprayed right off the sides.

 

[RobF300]

DO NOT WET SAND THE BOAT YET.

believe it or not- lemon amonia gets the stains out, but you will have to make sure you keep the boat wet while you do it, and you will have to wax everything when your done.

we had it happen on 4 boats and tried everything, bleach, degreaser, soaps, etc, finally we had some lemon amonia for the shop floor and sure enough it worked.

 

[wileecoyote]

great tip! I was actually going to wetsand the flat anyway, thats what I did for the rubrail down. I was going to wait until it was in the water to do the topsides, but it looks too bad like it is. Lemon Ammonia is my next attempt. Are there any side effects I should watch out for?
Update on cleaning up the mess. The ammonia does wonders cleaning the non-slip surfaces, only problem is you need to be sure you are at the very top because if it runs onto something else it will probably get black (or whatever color it is) there as well.
Thanks for the tip!