Deck stripper

[orangemikey]

I now cant avoid the job ive put off since buying my boat, stripping all of the old flaking paint off of the deck and cockpit.

I have a 1970's grp boat whic has had all of the deck area and cockpit painted with approx 4 layers of blakes deck paint over the years and all of this is now flaking and horrible so i want to strip all of it off back to the gel coat and start again with a proper primer and awl grip paint so that i can do it once and leave it for several years.
I cant use a scraper as most of the deck and cockpit have molded non slip areas.

Has anyone any experience of doing this job and can they offer me any tips?

Im thinking of using Removall 620 water based paint stripper has anyone else used this and is it any good?

Has anyone tried stripping paint from fiberglass with a steam cleaner does this work?

Many thanks for any suggestions!

 

[orangemikey]

Bump

No replies so far, surely someone has done this job???

 

[Poignard]

No replies so far, surely someone has done this job???

I have the same situation on my boat and I don't know what the answer is. I have to confess that all I do is to pick off any loose bits of old paint and then slap on more paint.

 

[ripvan1]

Hot air gun and scraper worked on mine recently removing 50 odd years of paint, but maybe with your non-slip you could use gun and stiff brush or get another bod to attack with pressure washer while you loosen it with gun - careful with the electrics tho' - good luck

 

[Georgio]

I have tried to do what you are suggesting and it’s a horrible slow jobs, like your boat I have moulded non slip that had been covered in a number of layers of paint. I used a gel-safe paint stripper that I ended up leaving on for a number of days before taking a pressure washer to the deck, this removed (if I was lucky) one layer of paint so it took a long time as some areas still adhered to the deck. I ended up repainting with Kiwi grip that is a really nice thick deck coating with a stippled finish that covers up all the bits of paint that wouldn’t come off.

If I was in the same position again I would pressure wash the decks and then repaint over the existing paint with Kiwi grip, that or take a sander to the deck.

Good luck!

 

[orangemikey]

georgio

georgio,
I am thinking of using kiwi grip as you say. Did you use a primer before the kiwi?
How well has it lasted so far? are any bits flaking off?

 

[croz]

I have just about completed this task on my She 36 - I had a compounded problem of having been painted over shedeck which made the scraping particularly difficult. I used Removeall 620 as you are suggesting and applied it leaving around 8-18hours (depending on temperature and extent to which I could see it lifting the paint) before scraping off using a hardened steel flat scraper. Once the Removall started to lift the paint I would recover it so the chemical was in contact wth the next layer of it tended not to lift the paint. It took me several goes at each layer as some bits were easier than others as the paint seemed to have "taken" better in some areas than others. Frankly its a back breaking job - My deck is around 14m2 and took me around 2hrs /m2 plus the waiting time and I was lifting 3 or 4 coats of paint.
I think it should take a little less time if you dont have the protrusion of the shedeck which Ive since ground out ready to fill and flat in the spring.

 

[mon_ami]

I tried sanding back my deck (45 yo Hurley) two summers ago. I didn't have an electric or water source at the time, so I didn't do as good a job as I'd wanted to. I didn't use it at the time, but I've used HomeStrip paint stripper on the boat for other projects and it's worked pretty well without killing the GRP. It's available in small quantities at B&Q (much cheaper to buy in bulk, but you could use the B&Q to test I guess). I don't know how it compares to Removall. I used Epifanes Multi Primer and Nautiforte for paint, and I regret it--it hasn't held up well in places where water pools. I also used Kiwi Grip on my molded in bits, and I thought it was pretty great--easy to use, looks nice, and seems quite grippy. It's been on there a couple of seasons, and the only place there are problems are in the places the primer has given up the ghost.

 

[G12]

I was going to buy a soda blaster for this job but it's lower on my list than other jobs so I've not made any headway with it. Soda blasters are cheap but the media isn't and you need a decent compressor....
Might be worth investigating....

 

[Wandering Star]

Maybe the wrong answer but still a possibility! I renewed all the headlinings throughout and the dead foam was a nightmare to remove until I stuck a circular wire brush on the end of my grinder. I used a light touch and It did no damage to the GRP but boy did it remove the stuff quickly! I'm not a H & S person at all but I did stop after 2 minutes work to nip out for a decent face mask. It was actually almost a pleasure watching the deckhead transform from a sticky dirty foam to nice clean GRP substrate. Worked brilliantly, whole deckhead of a 31 foot boat cleaned in less than a couple of hours. I spent longer in the shower afterwards than the job took.

I'd give it a go on GRP decks if I was doing your job, it's brutal but didn't cause any damage and if you gently tried a small area first,you could always stop the process if it turned out not to be such a brillant method!

Cheers, Brian.

 

[Wandering Star]

Maybe the wrong answer but still a possibility! I renewed all the headlinings throughout and the dead foam was a nightmare to remove until I stuck a circular wire brush on the end of my grinder. I used a light touch and It did no damage to the GRP but boy did it remove the stuff quickly! I'm not a H & S person at all but I did stop after 2 minutes work to nip out for a decent face mask. It was actually almost a pleasure watching the deckhead transform from a sticky dirty foam to nice clean GRP substrate. Worked brilliantly, whole deckhead of a 31 foot boat cleaned in less than a couple of hours. I spent longer in the shower afterwards than the job took.

I'd give it a go on GRP decks if I was doing your job, it's brutal but didn't cause any damage and if you gently tried a small area of the deck first, you could always stop the process if it turned out to be not such a brillant idea after all. The wire brush was from B & Q and as i recall fairly expensive at just under £10.

Cheers, Brian.

 

[Twister_Ken]

I was going to buy a soda blaster for this job but it's lower on my list than other jobs so I've not made any headway with it. Soda blasters are cheap but the media isn't and you need a decent compressor....
Might be worth investigating....

Buy? Why not rent? Not as if it's something you're going to be using very often.

 

[laurie the sailer]

I used caustic soda mixed with wall paper paste, eats aluminum though, leave on for 12hrs