bottom paint removal

[speakrdude]

Anyone consider soda blasting for bottom paint removal?

Guy says he removes paint on older Corvettes for clients. Removes all paint down to the gel coat without any damage to it. Cannot estimate how long boat would take though and @$125.00 per hour, it could get costly.

 

[dc380]

How big is your boat? A friend with a 48DB just had his done. $4k was the total price. There is still some paint that has to be removed my hand. It does a nice job, and it doesn't seem to hurt the gelcoat.

If you are having it done at a Marina he will have to be bonded, and setup a capture system to collect the dust and paint.

$125 doesn't soon bad.

 

[sprink56]

Anyone consider soda blasting for bottom paint removal?

Guy says he removes paint on older Corvettes for clients. Removes all paint down to the gel coat without any damage to it. Cannot estimate how long boat would take though and @$125.00 per hour, it could get costly.

Try looking into doing it yourself. You can rent the equipment, buy the medium and do it for a fraction of that $4K.

Out of curiosity, where are you going to keep the boat that you don't need bottom paint?

 

[boatrboy]

I had mine done last year. It was excellent! I paid under 1k. I just scuffed it up and used a 2 part sealer then bottom painted. (You should add you boat info to your sig so we know what type of boat you have.) I had to lift my boat off my trailer in my driveway, but the guy left no mess at all - even took everything with him. He was here about 3-4 hours.
See pics - let me know If you need more info.

Mark

http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh92/boatrboy/270 Sundancer/?action=view&current=IMG_2497.jpg
http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh92/boatrboy/270 Sundancer/?action=view&current=IMG_2502.jpg
http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh92/boatrboy/270 Sundancer/?action=view&current=IMG_2508.jpg

 

[fwebster]

You don't give us a location but you need to check local enviornmental laws before trying this yourself. You cannot do it yourself in Florida unless you are a licensed applicator and you catch the sand/paint residue and dispose it in a landfill for toxic waste.........and it ain't cheap.

But, I have to ask why even consider it? The only conceivable reasons are if you happen to have a paint compatibility problem between the old paint and what you plan to use or some boat yard manager see a big payday at your expense. I've owned my boat for 12 years and painted the bottom numerous times in t hat period and never needed to do anything more than properly sand the bottom before repainting.

 

[speakrdude]

Yes, I will fill in my bio. I figured I asked so many questions, everyone knew what boat I had by now.:grin:

I live in NW Arkansas. The boat will spend most of its time on a lift at a boat slip on Beaver Lake.

I've sanded of two other 28 footers down to the original cel goat and like the way they look, White!
Up untill now, I've done it the hard way. Stripper, orbittal sander. Cheaper, but lottts of work.

I am considering all black canvas made and upholstery wih black accent piping and with that black bottom paint might look pretty good.

Jim Crews

 

[speakrdude]

Ok lets try this.

 

[Sorrento 25]

A good pressure washer will get you pretty far especially if the original application was poorly prepped.

 

[speakrdude]

Yeah, I read about a guy that applies the chemical stripper first, lets it soften up, then pressure washes away. Sounds easy but what a mess that will make! I will test on the transom and repoart back. Unfortunatley, work keeps getting in the way.

 

[fwebster]

If I'm seeing the picture correctly, there isn't enough paint left on your boat to worry about. I'd get after it with 100 grit paper on an orbital and be done with it.

 

[boatrboy]

...The only conceivable reasons are if you happen to have a paint compatibility problem between the old paint and what you plan to use or some boat yard manager see a big payday at your expense. I've owned my boat for 12 years and painted the bottom numerous times in t hat period and never needed to do anything more than properly sand the bottom before repainting.

Frank - While I completely respect ALL of your posts, I can't really see where you are coming from here, please elaborate. I have had only three fiberglass boats, but all of them needed sanding of the bottom paint. This is a nasty, nasty job. I sanded my current boat a few years ago but not quite down to bare fiberglass, but close. I thought it was prepped nicely but the next year paint flaked off during the season in chunks. Lifting the boat on/off the trailer is a pita and the thought of re-sanding was killing me. I had the Soda blaster man show up, cover everything (check out my pics), and I saved my lungs, my back, eyes, etc, and holy cow-I am ready for paint. I have a clean start and it should now last many years. I swore that I would never sand another bottom again. I can see people wanting to avoid sanding and use Soda Blasting instead.

 

[fwebster]

You obviously don't have the same enviornmental considerations we do in Florida. Only one boat yard allows blasting within 100 miles of us and all the airborn dust and soda has to be trapped and caught which mean tenting the boat with polyethelyene.........prices start at about $50/ft.+ the soda+the haulout+lay days while the boat is in the yard.

If you go back to my post, I qualified what I said by saying we didn't know where the original poster was located so we couldn't know if he had the same potential hazardous material situation was we do or not. However, if you have unlimited funds and don't have the experience to properly prepare the bottom for paint then by all means, hire a soda blaster, but I stand by my statement that sanding is a lot quicker, cleaner and offers less overall expense and hassle..........provided you know the paint chemistry involved and that what you are going to use is compatable with what is on the boat. If it isn't compatable, then the old paint has to come off by some means...blasting, chemical stripping or sanding to gelcoat.

 

[boatrboy]

I now see where you are coming from. I will clarify some of my thoughts too -
I actually do not know what our environmental issues are in CT so I can't speak to that. If you look at my pics you will see that my boat was already in my driveway so I was lucky and did not need a haul - the same as the original poster based on his photo. The Soda guy completely tented the boat and nothing was left to exit anywhere. It was very clean. After he was done he wrapped up all the plastic and soda and took it away. I do not know where or how they disposed of it . And don't get me wrong, I do not have unlimited funds, but clearly my $800 spent is much less than your area quotes, so for me it was worth it, experience or not.
Other than cost/environmental issues, do you think there are any negative effects using this method?