Getting Blasted

[Roadkill]

My steel boat is getting shot blasted and primered today at last, after buying her about a year ago. Everything else has been held back while waiting for this, really. From the survey results I think the hull is pretty sound, but someone down at Hull marina has wished the shot blaster good luck as the deck is bu**ered on her. I don't know if they know something I don't. I knew there were one or two patches which needed new steel welding in, but now I'm having visions of having to rebuild the whole super structure /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif I guess all I can do is see what horrors the blasting uncovers, or doesn't, hehe.

 

[ribrage]

wouldn't lose to much sleep over the scaremongers, in my experience there is always someone in the yard who will put the fear of god into you, they are usually living under a tarpaulin in the remains of their own hull... out of money.

 

[Roadkill]

Ha Ha, thanks. Yeah that's what I was hoping. I think the guy doing the blasting wanted to cover himself as well, in case the whole boat crumbles into a pile of rust.

 

[Guest]

So weld it back up if it is. That is the strength of steel!

I would be more worried about the water line.

I would also be more worried by the weather. Not good for priming.

 

[gtuson]

We grit blasted and epoxy primed inside and outside of steel boat(Roamer 36). Blasting can expose things that not so obvious visually - but like someones else said - welding bits in is not too big a deal - although might involve some dismantling and rebuilding of interior..... I'd be concerned abouut the inside - the photo's look like it would be difficult to inspect all the interior steel work....the worst corrosiion we had arose from inside not outside - involved pitting which ultra sonic did not pick up. Also keep an eye on the blaster - our bloke did nt really attend to some of the detail - especially on the inside and we had to make good later once the rust began to appear. probably less of a problem if just doing exterior...Good luck - looks a nice boat

 

[ribrage]

had my steel ketch which is faired all over shot blasted below the water line for an inspection which uncovered some pin holes around the chain locker plates externally.

More worrying though was the pin holes in the starboard side, a lot of steel boats have foam insulation applied internally, our boat had developed a deck leak and the water had been trapped in the foam lagging and eventually had eaten its way thru from the inside.

as all the welding hass to be done internally and externally i had to rip the entire heads compartment out of the boat .... all beautiful teak joinery and as the heads is tiled all that had to go as well.

did most of the preparation work myself and paid a welder to cut and fit the plates, the welding in the side was around the size of a door the plates in the chain locker were around a foot wide and six feet long. welding work cost me around 3K . faired the boat myself and painted her again, youd be hard pressed to know it has been done , all told took me 3 monthes working weekends and evenings to finish the job, the boat os 30 years old and will now last me another 30 years.

Had all the hermits wandering around telling me id bought a dog and she'd never float again, now i get messages dropped into the cockpit asking if id ike to sell her.... FIRM ANSWER NO

 

[Roadkill]

Thanks for the comments

There is quite a bit of corrosion around at some of the windows on the inside, behind the wood paneling, caused by rainwater leaks/condensation. The windows are just bonded to the steel, with no moisture drainage channels or anything. Most of the bits that have been exposed and inspected I've been told there's still plenty of steel there and I can clean it up and treat it with something. But there are at least a couple of holes right though. I've had to rip out a lot of the lovely woodwork in the wheelhouse and dismantle the electronics (need an expert to reconnect it all) and steering in the process, so that the welding can be done. It was quite daunting to start destroying the boat interior at first, being new to all this (well, to most things practical), but once I got stuck in it was ok. It's putting it back together I'm worried about. I've tried to save as much as I can. I'm going to try and do most of the new joinery myself, though I have no joinery experience, and maybe pay someone to do the trickier bits - hopefully I can learn from them to do more myself in future. If more holes turn up from the blasting then there'll be more of the same to come. Some of the bolts holding the plywood wood panels to the steel have corroded, so I guess its the angle grinder for them and then re-drilling the steel? Or maybe no more nails will do the job, haha. As for rest of the window areas, I think I'll inspect and treat the rust behind the panels one area at a time then re-bond the glass in.

The hull itself seems pretty good, but I do need to clean up the inside and re paint it as it's a bit messy. I'm hoping I can get away without removing more woodwork for this, or am i in danger of missing major problems if I don't remove everything?

At least I'm gaining some practical experience. Sitting in front of a computer drawing pictures all day isn't a skill that's very transferable to yachting /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[stephenmartin]

Grit blasted my forty footer two years ago...hired the machine from Brandon Tool hire....the marina insisted i coverd the boat with plastic to protect the surounding area....took me 3 days solid removing paint in 2 inch strips....

Then had to quickly roller a coat of primer on to stop the rust....11 coats later and gallons of sweat it looked the dogs....no-one laughed...everyone was full of compliments...some even said sunday was a day of rest so stop working...start to finish about 6 weeks of weekends and evenings....sometimes couldn't be bothered...but all single handed....saved myself way over £2k

 

[ribrage]

have tended to lift boat every year since doing the paint and repairing any damage (obviously caused by other people /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif) at the end/beginning of the seaason. I usually do a complete repaint with a roller and then polish out any imperfections as well as possible.



found doing the fairing a pain in the ass all that long board sanding to lose the lines was dire the subsequent painting was a blessing.

every year when i paint the boat there is always areas that require attention even though I epoxied the hull several times from bare metal before applying numerous undercoats and then topcoats.

what paint are you planning on using ?