Scraping anti-foul down to the bare hull

Just seen the tail end of this thread. I dry scraped my 31 ft Prout cat using the Bosch power scraper. Used a wide blade that came in the box (from Screwfix) but be carefull that you don't dig the corners of the blade into gell coat. I ground the corners of my blade back a bit to try and limit accidental gouging.

Its a long tedious job that requires eye and breathing protection. Probably a good idea to keep the dust off your skin as well.
 
depends on a manner of things..... The amount of layers you have on... Or in my case I have after 7 years patches that are coming away and not keying to the surface... I think at one time someone slaped some A/F over without washing down first.. It's something i would only do every 7-10 years or so. Think of the extra speed ! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I'm surprised there hasn't been posted more recommendations for a Sandvik type of scraper with a carbide blade, (an essential feature), costing about £12 or so. A full day with one of these would see say a 30 to 34 footer scraped clean, provided you can tolerate a bit of arm-ache.
 
I tried scraping 6 years of antifoul off (with a hand scraper) and gave up after a morning. Couldn't even get to the first coat...
Tried Removall. Tried a small patch and that only 'melted' the top 2 layers after soaking for a whole day. Would have to repeat 2-3 times. PLUS the boat yard banned any liquid remover for elfin safety reasons to their employees.. Spoke to the Removall guy and he said there was a 'stronger version' that 'may' cause the GRP to blister, but would go back when it dried out - I wasn't going to risk that stuff.
So no choice by slurry blast. Local guy (with mobile service) did my f33 in 3 hours. They did have problems in a couple of places where it ate right through the gelcoat (along inner edges of chines, so I had to re-gelcoat and sand those areas. And I did decide to Gelshield 200 (5 coats) aswell. But for the cost (around £400 I think it was) it was so much better than scraping........ Here's to the next 7 years of trouble free hull antifoul! So I have a 20 litre drum of Removall 620 that's going to be keeping my paintbrushes clean for the next 500 years!
 
Various types of mobile blasting available, especially along the south coast. Most yards have restrictions on where they allow blasting to avoid damage and mess to other boats. Some yards also only allow their preferred contractor on site and charge a big premium over the contractors direct rate. It's worth planning this before deciding where to lift the boat out!

Slurry blasting is probably the cheapest system with prices £14 - £16 / ft LOA. Farrow and other systems tend to be more expensive but less mess. Price will depend on type of boat and discounts may be available if more than one boat in the same yard at the same time etc.

In my opinion blasting is preferable by far to scraping or chemical stripping but then I'm lazy!

Tie coats are generally recommended because boats aren't abraded properly or there is release agent still left on the surface. If the surface is properly clean and abraded the tie coat shouldn't be necessary.
 
The guy I use (Medway Area) to blast the club boats charges £17/mtr ~ knocks it down to the gel-coat without damaging the GC ~ I supply the boat on/in a cradle or trailer ~ he masks it up, does the job and clears up after himself. After he's finished all I have to do is mark out the waterline and repaint/anti foul?

Why bu**er about spending w/end after w/end stripping and cleaning, paying for tools and power when you can just let an expert do the job?

To me it's a no brainer!

Peter.
 
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