Re: 1975 Starcraft Mariner 18'
Starboard side done !!!
Port side done !!!
Bow good enough until I flip !!!
A couple more sexy pics cuz I took em. It's worth noting at this point that the entire time this old girl has been sitting in my yard no one has cared or commented on the ugly old boat as soon as it started getting shiny I was overrun with neighbors checking out my project and commenting on what a nice boat she is.
My two cents on stripping
1. If your thinking about using chems don't mess around with sanding first as the stuff seems to work best on the thicker areas anyway and its just more work
2. Find some shade and or work during the cooler parts of the day saves on your body and this stuff is basically worthless in direct sunlight I ended up stripping the port gunwale with the wire wheel as I couldn't keep it cool enough for the stripper to work.
3. Stock up on plastic scrapers, putty knives, stiff brushes, etc.. Maybe a softer wire brush would be best mine were too stiff and made scratches. The stiff nylon brush I had would soften up after an hour or two and was worthless til the next day so having a couple would have helped.
4. When using a pressure washer start low and work your way up as It seems once the stuff gets wet it gets nuetralized and paint sticks again.
5. I used two different stripping products one el cheapo from menards the other was zip strip only difference was menards one was a bit thicker worked a little better on rivets and such but hard to keep on brush big globs would just fall on the ground It took about 4 1/2 cans to do what I did although some was wasted trying to work in the sun etc...
6. Take your time, find some shade and don't try to rush it the stuff only works as fast as it does no matter how hard you work. It took me aprox 18 hrs or so to do what I did.I imagine some of you younger energetic types could do it quicker but expect to invest the majority of at least a couple days in this. I think it is worth doing and will probably strip all my future projects If for no other reason than I found a few steel rivets here and there I now know I need to replace.
I hope this review helps someone out and saves a couple headaches keep plugging guys and thanks for reading more to come
