Removing deck paint on a Westerly

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Andrew_Trayfoot

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It is time to remove all deck paint on my Griffon..

I've had the boat for 20 years and in that time I have twice used an ordital sander to remove anything that was flaking away, faired the edges of the firm paint and the over coated the whole lot....

Although the above method worked ok the final result starts to look tattey again after a few seasons.

So firstly any ideas on the best method to get it all off:

Orbital sander
Belt sander
Paint tripper
???

Secondly, best new paint system:

Kewi Grip
Something from International, Hempel, etc
Sandtex/B&Q masionary paint
???
 
+1 for a chemical paint stripper, I'd use a caustic soda based stripper such as Owatrol Marine Strip or Dilunett or a home made concoction of caustic soda and wallpaper paste, but it does depend on the type of paint on there.

I have used Interdeck several times but the range of colours is very small. A masonry paint will increase the colour range available
 
Paint stripper is ultimately easier to clean up than sanding. If you do not want to do this yourself, then there is a company going to the boat show for the first time that will remove paint or antifouling using dry ice (frozen CO2). Details here. Dry ice blasting of antifouling

For my Fulmar I use International Interdeck. I am just repainting the decks at the moment, ready for Concerto to be at the Boat Show. Come and have a look as see how good the grip is. I changed some years ago to grey and it looks a smart colour compared to the old blue that used to be there (not the Westerly blue).
 
I'd rule out a belt sander as being too aggressive. One moment's inattention and you'll be half-way through the layup, if my experience is anything to go by (stripping off gelcoat completely off between the keels).

I last used one of those 'forward/backward' powered scrapers (not the usual side to side ones). That was OK - better than hand scraping, but it was on thick AF.
 
When I stripped the decks maybe 5 years ago of my Konsort I opted for mechanical means.....a Bosch power chisel. Took a long time but at the time I thought the amount of chemical stripper required would be absurd and expensive. I may have been wrong and will follow what you do with interest. The chisel was discontinued but I got one on e bay......blades still available though at that time.
 
Minerva said:
that sounds like an environmental abomination!
Click to expand...
Exactly the opposie, the only mess is the paint, nothing else. Frozen CO2 is a natural stable gas that is a common part of our worls and is used in many other situation the keep things cold e.g. medicines and vaccines. Many boatyards are now refusing antifouling to be sand blasted or soda blasted, with wet sanding or vacuum sanding the only alternative. This process is far more widely used in America for all sorts of cleaning situations. The company that is at the Boat Show is a building construction and renovation company that bought the equipment to clean old timbers in listed buildings. They have spare capacity and have tested on a number of boats. I know of 2 owners of motorboats that have already booked to have their antifouling removed as there are multiple layers of hard antifouling that is flaking off in places.
 
I should add I also used a Bahco or Skarsten ? pull scraper to vary the work. Probably 50 50 with the Bosch chisel. One other thing is you may find quite a few imperfections in the gel coat under the paint. I wanted to expose the gelcoat in places rather than have a solid painted deck. You could spend a lot of time tarting up the gel coat too. Concerto is a mine of information if you set off in that direction! I confess to more humble aspirations.
 
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