Sand Blasting made my day.

[Jim@sea]

I have spent 6 afternoons (30 hours) using a 1" chisel getting the antifouling off my hull and was only half way through.
What I am getting off is extremely tough and I have tried an orbital sander but it took too long to go through the 3 coats.
A sharp chisel breaks the paint up into small fragments
( I had a bodyshop for 20 years so using an orbital is familiar)
Then at the boatyard some other boats were being sandblasted.
So he did mine.
£150 and half an hour later my hull is ready for re-painting with Gel Shield.
Money well spent.

 

[prv]

£150 and half an hour later my hull is ready for re-painting with Gel Shield.
Money well spent.

There's someone on the forum, can't remember his name, who does slurry-blasting. He said once that a lot of the boats they're called to have been partially stripped by hand before the owner gave up and called them in

Pete

 

[aslabend]

ooooo, I feel so butch now for hand stripping mine....

 

[wiggy]

Just finished mine, this piture was last weekend. 31ft with 1" chisel=aching shoulders. Found it most efficient to pop down and do an hour or so after that my work rate was about the same as a British workman leaning on his shovel. I'm now sanding with random orbit sander prior to Coppercoating, it also hurts but different muscles!

 

[Elessar]

There's someone on the forum, can't remember his name, who does slurry-blasting. He said once that a lot of the boats they're called to have been partially stripped by hand before the owner gave up and called them in

Pete

Thats me and its true!

OP. £150!!! We charge that for keel only you had a bargain.

 

[Seajet]

I'm sure Elessar and his people know what they're doing, but a word of caution; at our club a few boats got together and had a company sandblast all their boats over one winter, to reduce costs.

All owners were assured only the paint would be removed, leaving the gelcoats - and gelshield - intact.

In fact several if not all of the boats blasted - before horrified owners called a halt - had their bottom gelshield and gelcoats blasted off too !

Some very upset people, from what I recall the fix wasn't too good either.

So I'd ask around for customer recommendations before getting someone in...

 

[snooks]

I hope it wasn't "sand" that was used...that can lead to [deep breath] pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconioses from the inhillation of sand dust particles.

+1 for Elessar and the Antifoul Removal Company

 

[Resolution]

I'm sure Elessar and his people know what they're doing, but a word of caution; at our club a few boats got together and had a company sandblast all their boats over one winter, to reduce costs.

All owners were assured only the paint would be removed, leaving the gelcoats - and gelshield - intact.

In fact several if not all of the boats blasted - before horrified owners called a halt - had their bottom gelshield and gelcoats blasted off too !

Some very upset people, from what I recall the fix wasn't too good either.

So I'd ask around for customer recommendations before getting someone in...

I'll echo that. I had my hull blasted early this winter, not by Ellesar but by another well-known outfit. The blasting only took half a day, but sanding down to a smooth finish took two lads with orbitals (and vacuum dust removers) another two days. Then it was apparent that the sanding had penetrated the gelcoat, leaving ThOUSANDS of pin prick holes. Another three to four days of filling and sanding before we were even able to start the several coats of epoxy primer etc. Now it looks superb, and I have put back on the weight I lost in the process!

Wish I had listened to Ellesar in the first place.

 

[JSYmartini]

I think the sand blasting needs to be done by someone who has experience with boat bottoms. Pressure needs to be turned right down.

We have a guy here that does boats all the time, does an amazing job, leaving a perfect key for whatever goes back on. He charges £10 per foot of length, i.e. 35ft boat costs £350.