Polishing & Anti-fouling - which to do first?

[alt]

It's that time of year again, need to polish (and everything before that and after) the boat and touch up the antifoul (the transom and sides)

Question is, which should I do first?

When I polish there's usually bits left over (that drained down from compound etc.) on the anti foul but it never bothered me as when the boat went back in the water it dissolved over time.

Just wondering if there's any real procedure?

I'd be inclined to do the polishing first, then clean the boat completely, let it dry overnight and do the anti-foul then.

Suggestions?

 

[alt]

Thought I would also ask....

I'm re-doing the anti-foul purely for cosmetic purposes, i'm on fresh water so it doesn't serve much of a purpose.

The anti-foul thats on it is International Cruiser Uno. When applying a coat over it (it's nowhere near the stage of needing to be pulled back and done from scratch - maybe in a few years) does it need to be sanded first? Basicly what I did was power-hose the hull which did take a bit off, but how it stands now is that it's quite rough and blotchy.

Just don't know if I should sand before re-applying? And if so, what sand-paper to use? A heavy wet-dry, or a light dry paper?

Thanks folks

 

[CX54WEK]

We polished ours before antifouling. A word of warning though dont wax it before antifouling or the masking tape wont stick to the hull. Then after antifouling waxed it by hand so we didnt get too much wax on the fresh antifoul.

The cruiser uno erodes to leave quite a smooth finish. We didnt bother sanding ours back as it had left a smooth enough finish and there where not layers and layers of existing paint beneath. We didnt use the Cruiser Uno again though so we shall see how the new stuff fairs up. If it works OK we shall stick with the new stuff as i prefer the colour!!

 

[gjgm]

As long as the remaining A/F is a good surface, there is no need to sand it, no. In fact, given its content, I m not sure its that healthy to sand it ! Scrape off any flaking bits. If you have a few years of A/F on the boat, I dont think you need masking tape along the waterline. Its easy enough to draw along the a/f line with a brush or roller.
Doesnt matter whether you polish or a/f first. Depends if the ground is dry if you need to lie on it

 

[oldgit]

As soon as boat is out of water and still wet jet wash off easily removable stuff.
Sort hull polishing and then finish A/F.

"Just don't know if I should sand" . ......do wear a mask when sanding the dust is rather toxic ?.

If you have a big hull,hand sanding will get very very very tedious indeed so say nothing of your poor old back.

 

[PaulGooch]

We scrub, compound and clean everywhere first, as necessary. Our boat is done with Blakes. When we did it last year, any rough spots i did lightly rub down. I don't think it's a good idea to rub it down dry, because of the toxicity. I used a very course Scotch Brite (it's like a scouring pad) and a bucket of water.

Once everything was clean and shiny, antifoul tidied up, we left it overnight to thoroughly dry. Next morning, one inch masking tape around the join and on with a couple of coats of antifoul. Get the tape off as soon as possible, if it gets wet/damp it can sometimes be hard work getting it off. We then apply three coats of wax to the whole boat. Those of you with 50' boats will have arms like Popeye after three coats of wax by hand LOL

 

[alt]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions folks. Don't suppose anyone fancies anti-fouling my boat for me? (joke for peanuts!)

 

[Andrew_Fanner]

I would antifoul first, then any mistakes or mess can be cleaned off and not adversely affect a cleaned and polished hull. Allows masking tape to stick for boot topping lines as well.

I jetwash as soon as possible after haulout and give any iffy patches a scrape or hand rubdown with something coarse. If keen I'll sand the whole area to be antifouled with a decent belt sander and dust bag. NBC suit for me with S10, folk laugh but it has worked so far.

 

[gjgm]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions folks. Don't suppose anyone fancies anti-fouling my boat for me? (joke for peanuts!)

Make sure the a/f is at room temp, then its alot easier to apply. When it gets cold, it is like treacle.

 

[Morpheous]

I antifouled first this year because masking tape doesn't stick too well to the waxed hull. I didn't want to leave the waxing till last cos the boatyard is next to a building site and the dust and ****e accumulating is horrendous. I didn't sand the hull but went over it with a scraper to get any flaky or really lumpy bits off and then just overcoated on that.

 

[maybh1]

Whichever way you decide to do it - for goodness sake remove
the masking tape asap

Just as we were almost finished antifouling ours it started to rain and we quickly packed away and set off home

Halfway home - I remembered that I had left the masking tape on

Two weeks later it had set like concrete and took me the best part of a day to remove and cost me three fingernails

May
xx

 

[CX54WEK]

Whichever way you decide to do it - for goodness sake remove
the masking tape asap

Just as we were almost finished antifouling ours it started to rain and we quickly packed away and set off home

Halfway home - I remembered that I had left the masking tape on

Two weeks later it had set like concrete and took me the best part of a day to remove and cost me three fingernails

May
xx

We left ours on for a few hours after the first coat of antifoul. Unfortunately it rained which then meant when we removed the tape it left the glue stuck to the hull.

We finally removed it with some very strong thinners borrowed from the boat yard. Needless to say we didnt make the same mistake with the second coat.

 

[rafiki_]

I antifouled first, then waxed. Used Jotun Seaforce 30. Easy to apply, but quite smelly. left me with a bit of a headache, and lots of freckles form the roller!

Looked great until I waxed!

Had the leave the masking tape on for a week, as I primed before a/f ing. Came off OK on the side of the boat that was in the shade. Left some glue on the sunny side. This came off with some thinners and elbow grease. She is starting to look better after the winter took it's toll. Will do the superstructure waxing in the next couple of weeks, and get some pictures.

 

[ultimate]

It doesnt cost much more but if you use the blue 3M masking tape (its waterproof) it can stay on for as long as 20 days and its waterproof. The one time I decided to cut corners and use regular masking tape it rained and took me half the day to remove and I had to end up polishing where the tape was as it left a yellow stain, all for the sake of a couple more £.



Buy the blue 3M stuff

 

[tamarind]

As I do this for a living, always buff compound and wax hull topsides first. Use the 3M blue tape for masking up, it sticks and it is waterproof to a certain extent. Doing the job this way eliminates compound and wax getting onto your nice new antifoul.

 

[alt]

Thanks for the advice. It's up to the painter to use whatever masking tape he wants, i'm not doing the anti-fouling (but doing everything else)

I can have the boat in a big vented shed to apply the anti-foul so not worried about the masking tape getting wet.

I reckon what i'll do, in this order:
Wash (again)
Compound
Wash
Let to Dry
Polish
Buff
Wash

THEN Antifoul