stripping wooden hulls

[nemesis]

does anyone know if it is possible to remove paint from a wooden hull by
sandblasting?
obviously it's a quick method but would it damage the hull

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[penfold]

There was a mention of this in the editorial in the latest (October)Classic Boat; Doesn't work very well on softwood because it strips out the sapwood between the growth rings, but good on hardwood. It says there will be a full article in next month's issue.

cheers,
david

<hr width=100% size=1>Those Fathers weren't Fathers, they were mothers!

 

[ccscott49]

I wouldn't use sand, not actually sand anyway, fear of silicocis. usually copper slag. But there is a plastic medium blasting technique, dry or wet, which would do the job perfectly, it even works on varnish, you can take off a layer of paint at a time, top leave the original primer, or go back to bare wood, i've seen it working and it does work. have a look in the magazines, for antifoul blasting or general blasting, theres even guys who will travel to you and do it.

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[mulligan]

I am unfarmiliar with this techneque, do you have any information regarding equipment etc as it sounds like a good idea.

Regards

Ross

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[ccscott49]

I'm afraid you will have to check it out with the suppliers advertised, the system uses lowish pressure high volume air, with the plastic blasting medium metered into the flow, to gently strip away the layers, it's fantastic to watch, very gentle.

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[Casey]

I had my clinker built boat stripped by Poole Bay Ltd (lloyd@poolebay.fsnet.co.uk) using the Farrow System (www.farrowsystem.com) from the water line to the keel and wished afterwards that I had had the whole boat done from the deck line down. Lloyd Cornell was the guy who did the job and I was very pleased with the finish. He obviously knew what he was doing and I had to give the exposed timber a gentle sand before putting Blakes woodseal on to it.

A very satisfactory job.



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[MeritaII]

Hi,
I agree with David ( Penfold), I wet blasted Merita II's hull before the refit , mainly because there were years of grime and old paint on her and I needed to see what rot we had . Frankly although I was carefull with the blaster it took out the sapwood anywhere where it was a bit soft. Most of these planks were replaced anyway but it wasn't a very pretty sight!
I saw another boat done in a yard and frankly I think it spoiled her, they simply painted over it and it wasn't good , this one was done by a company.
I don't know about hard wood, Merita is larch and I wouldn't do it to the new topsides. I would now just use a blowtorch and scraper , takes longer but at least you are sure of the results.
Regards Adrian " Merita II"

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[Mirelle]

Whatever for?

A blowlamp and a scraper does the job very well, leaves the wood nice and dry ready for a rub down and a coat of primer.

I had a vast thickness of antifoul "sand washed" off Mirelle's bottom about 14 years ago; I would not do it again as it knocked hell out of the (teak) planking.

When I wanted to change antifoul three years ago I dry scraper her using a good quality mask; it worked.

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[Doghouse]

Have recently finished stripping a 14ft clinker built in 1957. Spoke to some old hands first. Put off blow lamp as heat may cause unseen problems with seams (unseen harm!).
My recommendation, for what its worth, is good quality paint stripper (Nitromorse), an even better quality scraper (Sandvic have an excellent range), and most importantly, time and patience.
I found that i learnt a lot about the boat by this method - i could see the craftmanship that went into the build. - good luck.

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[ccscott49]

Thats the stuff I was on about, veeeeeery gentle.

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[penfold]

Agreed on the silicosis front; sandblasting is a misnomer, it should be and is called gritblasting. As ccscott49 says, using silica sand (beach sand) is a good way to destroy your lungs, as well as being a lousy blasting medium(wrong grain shape).

Don't really know much about low pressure blasting, but there are a number of low-impact systems available using the likes of plastic chips and beads, ground coconut husk and other esoteric stuff, so a bit of research is required I think.

cheers,
david

<hr width=100% size=1>This candidate has low personal standards, and continually fails to meet them.

 

[LittleShip]

I have removed the anti fouling using a scraper connected to a vacume cleaner, it has a tungsten blade (bright yellow and approx £15) and it works very well, these are advertised in the magazines and the bonus is it keeps all poison products away from you and the work site is clean. It works just as well on paint ,but I will add, it is harder work. Paint stripper is the better option for decks and cabin sides, even if it is slow and messey.
All the best
Tom.

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