paint and varnish removal

[manish]

i just had a thought do you think it would be ok to sand blast a wooden boat to remove any paint or varnish rather than having to sand for an age??? another thing would it be possible and would i get a good finish if i was to spray on the primer, paint, varnish and antifoul?? once again to save time. thanks /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[SwedishLass]

I suspect that the sand blasting unless completed by a very diligent and experienced user would actually increase time as the grain of the wood is often softer than the topcoat. The potential for damage is enormous. There are many traditional quick ways of removing paint including scraping, heat and chemicals however if the paint is sound why remove it. Powered sanding devices, of which I seem to have collected many and various, take out a lot of the effort.
As for replacing the finish, spraying is an option if you have the technology but I find the combination of a brush for cutting in, roller and a jenny brush for laying off is faster than the time it takes to mask off all surrounding surfaces. If in a confined area with other boats you would not be popular.

 

[Casey]

I had my clinker built boat cleaned off by someone using the Farrow system and was delighted with the result. The operator was experienced although has gone out of business since I employed him.

This system is advertised in many of the boating publications

 

[ccscott49]

The farrow system with a good operator can do exactly what you want, they can remove a coat ata time, leaving the primer behind and taking of the antifoul, paint or layers of varnish, however might get a bit expensive.

 

[Peterduck]

I second what Grahame has to say about the painting. In the Yacht Club where I've been keeping my boat there are mostly plastic boats. It is important to the owners of these contraptions that they be shiny, so they get a contractor to spray the boat for them. Now the parts of the boat that are not supposed to be painted that colour have to masked off - completely! Not just a little bit around the edges. Then all the boats around the boat to be painted have to be thoroughly covered in tarps. You'd be amazed at how far the overspray carries!
Peter.

 

[manish]

ok then i think it would be better then if i just stick to the good old way. thanks very much for all the advice.

 

[pennycar9]

I have used a wet abrasive blast system to the bottom of our boat and I would never have it done again. The paying all came out and caused all sorts of problems.Possibly on steel or fibre glass the system may be satisfactory, but not on wood. My boat is a 50ft ex MFV planked with larch which is a relatively soft wood. Sorry get out the sand paper!

 

[ccscott49]

Depends which system it was. I've seen wet abrasive, sand, copper slag, hemetite, plastic medium, the plastic medium (farrow) is the only one I would reccomend.