Removing a ‘fair few’ layers of antifoul with orbital sander?

[thinwater]

In fact, anti-foul is commonly removed by dry vacuum sanding in the US. In fact, wet sanding and scraping are mostly forbidden unless you have a contained concrete pad.



If the vac (HEPA filter) is good there is very, very little dust. You wear and N95 mask. The dust is not as toxic as one might think (OSHA has studied this) because the anti-fouling agents are 75-85% gone and the resin is well cured.

The chemical strippers are more dangerous than contained sanding dust. If they can penetrate paint in minutes, they can sure penetrate gloves and skin in minutes. Methylene chloride is basically banned, and NMP is moving that way after studies revealed with the chemicals were doing to people.

Very coarse paper helps. 40 grit.

 

[Mistroma]

Funnily enough it’s a Parker 31 that I’ve got to do.

Well, it seems that it’s unanimous; don’t use a sander. Cheers for the warning(s). I’ll stick a thread on east coast forum to see who does blasting locally, but if Antarctic Pilot’s quote is typical it’s blisters time for me I fear.

I noticed that the power chisel he mentioned was also pretty expensive at about £256. IT also lacks a wide chisel and you'd need to buy one of those as well, assuming they do provide it as an accessory.

Glad I bought my Bosch one about 20+ years ago for around £35.

I see that there are a couple of on eBay at £40 (no bids yet) and £52 (11 bids here). Both auctions end on Saturday. I think they both come with the 60mm blade I used.

Someone mentioned taking about 5 days of hard work for a 31' boat. I think it took me about 12-14 hours to do my 42' boat a few years ago and it wasn't particularly hard work.

 

[rib]

I sanded my 41 dry.. With overalls and mask.. Then put a barrier coat on. Also put a barrier cream on face and arms.. Sanded in less then a day..

 

[Chiara’s slave]

You sanders must have empty boatyards to sand in. Our boat was parked between half a million auids worth of rather smart motor boats, I wouldn’t have blamed their owners for being annoyed if I’d covered their pride and joy with blue dust.

 

[rib]

You sanders must have empty boatyards to sand in. Our boat was parked between half a million auids worth of rather smart motor boats, I wouldn’t have blamed their owners for being annoyed if I’d covered their pride and joy with blue dust.

Bit of due care clear plastic sheeting, small hover, right place right day. No problem.. My neighbours supplied refreshments for me.. Cost of plastic sheeting was shared between four boats doing the same..

 

[thinwater]

You sanders must have empty boatyards to sand in. Our boat was parked between half a million auids worth of rather smart motor boats, I wouldn’t have blamed their owners for being annoyed if I’d covered their pride and joy with blue dust.

This sign is locacted in a very up-scale marina in Maryland with ~ 1500 boats on the hard each winter. They keep the gravel spotless, and if you don't have an effective vacuum on your sander, you can expect a visit within minutes. They will rent you a vacuum sander if you don't have one. In fact, they would rather you used a vacuum sander than scrape and drop some of the chips in the gravel when you pick up the tarps, or have the tarps blow in the wind.

I use a vacuum sander with a cyclone trap in front of a HEPA filter. Very, very little gets away.

Regional differences.

 

[Saltram31]

Has anybody tried this product? £220 per 10 kg container which does 4m² per kg
Peelaway Marine Anti-foul Removal | Peel Away

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Has anybody tried this product? £220 per 10 kg container which does 4m² per kg
Peelaway Marine Anti-foul Removal | Peel Away

That's extortion. Strippit max is the same stuff as far as I can tell, and it’s £40

 

[Rhylsailer99]

Lockdown and a scraper worked for me,I set a goal of around 1sq a day. Even wearing a high tech mask suitable for nuclear fallout and nerve gas I could smell antifoul in my nose for a few weeks afterwards and got an ear infection from the debris. I would not do it again .

 

[Graham376]

Glad I bought my Bosch one about 20+ years ago for around £35.
I see that there are a couple of on eBay at £40 (no bids yet) and £52 (11 bids here). Both auctions end on Saturday. I think they both come with the 60mm blade I used.

I did it with Bosch scraper the first time and found care needed to stop it digging in. Second time 10 years later, found Bahco much quicker and with corners ground off, less damaging. Still have the Bosch somewhere in workshop, occasionally used as power chisel which was its original purpose.

 

[Jim@sea]

Anyone done this? I’m thinking that with a hoover attached and using decent Mirka pads it might be preferable to scraping. My hope is that with the hoover attached the pads will clog up less quickly.

I know that blasting is the preferred method, but I’m skint.

In 1982 when I would remove antifouling (And then it would be TBT) it was normal to (carefully) use Nitromores Paint Stripper.
The way we did it did not damage the Gel Coat.
You get a 2 inch brush and paint a 9 inch stripe on the antifouling.
Then using a 2 inch scraper you immediately scrape it off,
Then wipe where you have painted with kitchen roll with Acetone on it.
And you are left with a gleaming 9 inch stripe of clean gel coat.

Obviously you have to have a metal container to scrape the Nitromores/Antifouling into.

But it works for me.

Obviously disposing of the nitromores bucket sensibly and dont smoke.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Nitromors aint what it used to be. You can practically drink it without harm these days.

 

[thinwater]

Lockdown and a scraper worked for me,I set a goal of around 1sq a day. Even wearing a high tech mask suitable for nuclear fallout and nerve gas I could smell antifoul in my nose for a few weeks afterwards and got an ear infection from the debris. I would not do it again .

What type of mask and cartridges? How often where the cartridges changed? Was it fit tested ? And you wear a head sock or hood when doing that sort of work.

I don't know about the UK, but in the US fit testing of respirators is mandatory anytime a respirator is needed. If it is not properly fitted and fit tested, you might as well not wear it, because it will leak. During Covid we've learned that most people can't fit a mask, at all.

OSHA fit testing

No gaps, not turning your head or breathing hard. The mask needs to fit snugly and you may have to try several to get a fit. I have. Some I can fit, some will never fit air-tight.

 

[Mistroma]

That's extortion. Strippit max is the same stuff as far as I can tell, and it’s £40

Methylene chloride and phenol based paint strippers vanished years ago for safety reasons and replacements were often pretty useless.

Caustic soda solution works well to strip many types of paint. Dirt cheap but even a very dilute solution will cloud over your eye in under 30 seconds.
Benzyl alcohol is a pretty good alternative and should be fairly cheap. Wouldn't be surprised if it was in the hugely expensive one "marine" stripper. I'd mix in a little citric acid with Benzyl alcohol if I could buy the latter cheaply. Strippit max. might work out about the same price if it is £40 per litre.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

Strippit id £40 for the same quantity. And both are caustic soda based. As a graduate chemist I don’t generally need much reminding about chemical hazards thank you. Have fun with your benzyl alcohol, more organic solvents are just what we all neef.

 

[ROSK]

I just got some pads from Fein. I'm going to try them next spring. Anyone tried them?

Sanding fleece for anti-fouling | FEIN Power Tools, Inc.

WPO 14-15 E Marine Set | FEIN Power Tools, Inc.

 

[rib]

Just a thought... We are really carefull about our health and stuff... But quite happy to endorse thounds of tons of the stuff into the sea for our enjoyment.. Humm.... Just thinking out loud

 

[Wansworth]

Just a thought... We are really carefull about our health and stuff... But quite happy to endorse thounds of tons of the stuff into the sea for our enjoyment.. Humm.... Just thinking out loud

Sometimes it doesn’t pay to think too much……….or don’t apply antifoul and go to ascrubbing berth now and then,if the scrubbing berth is near a pub it’s pleasant time filler?

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Just a thought... We are really carefull about our health and stuff... But quite happy to endorse thounds of tons of the stuff into the sea for our enjoyment.. Humm.... Just thinking out loud

The main risk to health isn't so much the toxicity, but breathing small particles of dust. I once worked out how much copper leached into the ocean from our hulls, and it's miniscule. The calculations are on here somewhere, on a Coppercoat thread.

 

[rib]

The main risk to health isn't so much the toxicity, but breathing small particles of dust. I once worked out how much copper leached into the ocean from our hulls, and it's miniscule. The calculations are on here somewhere, on a Coppercoat thread.

Oh.

The main risk to health isn't so much the toxicity, but breathing small particles of dust. I once worked out how much copper leached into the ocean from our hulls, and it's miniscule. The calculations are on here somewhere, on a Coppercoat thread.

Will have agree to disagree.. A marina with loads of boats can't be doing the local area much good in my eyes.. You can balance that out but putting the whole oceans and seas in the mill if you want.. Ps I am a boater and do apply antifoul... But let's not kid ourselfs. IMO.