Steam cleaner to strip old antifoul?

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GTom

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I never had a steam cleaner but heard the decent ones can remove ordinary paint.

Question#1: Would the gelcoat survive such a hot steam? I've no intentions to melt the boat...
Question#2: Would it work at all with antifoul paints?
 
Doubt it would work. Only 3 ways of getting AF off. Blasting is the most effective. Manual alternatives are physically scraping or using a chemical stripper. Neither of these two are easy - messy, time consuming and really difficult to get a good result, plus you have the problem of collecting and disposing of the toxic waste.
 
lpdsn said:
I suspect you may be the pioneer on that one.
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I am afraid so:D

Tranona said:
Doubt it would work. Only 3 ways of getting AF off. Blasting is the most effective. Manual alternatives are physically scraping or using a chemical stripper. Neither of these two are easy - messy, time consuming and really difficult to get a good result, plus you have the problem of collecting and disposing of the toxic waste.
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Saw several videos where steaming boosts the efficiency of scraping a LOT. It does work with normal paints but no clue about copper-based antifoul stuff...
 
GTom said:
Saw several videos where steaming boosts the efficiency of scraping a LOT. It does work with normal paints but no clue about copper-based antifoul stuff...
Click to expand...

Remember you're dealing with paints that are designed to spend 12 or 24 months or thereabouts immersed in water. Household paints aren't.

If it is self-eroding anti-foul keep it wet when removing it. I can't see steam being better at that than lots of cold water. Of course if your budget runs to it lots of warm water will make that Gulag anti-fouling removal experience less onerous.
 
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