Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in water!

[Nathan k]

Hi,

I have a terrible degrading antifoul coat on my boat that the previous owner put on, it will be kept on a trailer so i want to get rid of it.

Right so how can i get rid of it?

Someone told me about hydrochloric acid but what Molar do i need?

I have also heard sanding, sand blasting, water jet, heat gun and the list goes on.

So guys what do you recommend?

just a heads up i know nothing about this subject so don't assume anything
Many thanks

Nathan

 

[registeroot]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

warning. only wet sand antifoul, as it is toxic if you dry sand it and breathe in the particles. according to the tin anyway. i quite like mine. looks nice and 'satiny' and doesnt show up imperfections.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

I would use some kind of chemical stripper.

Put your boat on some plastic before you do this.

YD.

 

[Thalasso]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

If your bottom paint was applied correctly, there should have been a barrier coat applied. You will have to sand the bottom to bring it back to original after removing bottom paint. I think soda blasting is probably the best way.

 

[BWT]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

Aqua strip and a 2" putty knife. Brush it on heavy and let sit for a few hours and scrape it off. Might be a good idea to only do one side at a time. Use heavy plastic on the ground and rubber gloves and tyvek suit. It's messy but works well and doesn't create any dust.

Good luck!

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

Aqua strip and a 2" putty knife. Brush it on heavy and let sit for a few hours and scrape it off. Might be a good idea to only do one side at a time. Use heavy plastic on the ground and rubber gloves and tyvek suit. It's messy but works well and doesn't create any dust.

Good luck!

I would think this would damage the gel coat underneath, even make it soft. No way would I leave it on for few hours!

Op, soda blasting will work to a certain extent, but to much can harm the gel coat underneath. If your lucky, the anti fouling paint is the only paint on the hull, if there was a primer put on first it is going to be a back breaking job, actually its going to be a back breaking job no matter how you do it if you do it yourself. There are many marine strippers on the market that you can use, just be careful not to let them eat through the gel coat or soften it. After you get the paint off, it will need wet sanded and then polished to bring the gel coat shine back. Good luck, and feel free to come do mine to

 

[Nathan k]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

Anyone know anything about the use of hydrochloric acid in the use of removing anti foul?
i have full breathing aparatus so sanding could be a option?

Nathan

 

[BWT]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

It's a water based stripper that is designed for this purpose. It does not soften the gel or damage it in anyway. This stripper is not like the caustic stuff that most people are familiar with. Read up on it. I've used it many, many times for this type of work and have always had excellent results.

 

[JSmitty]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

My blasting guy used coal slag (Black Beauty) to remove my bottom paint. It's the new thing. Costs ~$400 for a 24-foot boat.

Stripping bottom paint by chemical or sanding is a God-awful nasty, messy, tedious job. I've done it before. $400 was a bargain to avoid it.

 

[chriscraft254]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

My blasting guy used coal slag (Black Beauty) to remove my bottom paint. It's the new thing. Costs ~$400 for a 24-foot boat.

Stripping bottom paint by chemical or sanding is a God-awful nasty, messy, tedious job. I've done it before. $400 was a bargain to avoid it.

That is a bargain if it worked well. Did it take off all the paint, was yours primered also?

 

[Nathan k]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

It's a water based stripper that is designed for this purpose. It does not soften the gel or damage it in anyway. This stripper is not like the caustic stuff that most people are familiar with. Read up on it. I've used it many, many times for this type of work and have always had excellent results.

Your pod casts are amazing; I?ve just had a vision of teak deck on the boat! please keep them up!
And with that stripper stuff do i have to use a chisel to remove it? This will be the first time i have owned i boat and i really don't want to damage it

 

[oops!]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

i climb under thirty footers with an 8 inch orbital da sander and 120 grit....

i wear a full facemask.....and full body protection.......the boat is down to the gellcoat in 3 hours.
boat needs to be on the blocks......total coat not including time.....about 20 bux in sand paper/discs.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

i climb under thirty footers with an 8 inch orbital da sander and 120 grit....

i wear a full facemask.....and full body protection.......the boat is down to the gellcoat in 3 hours.
boat needs to be on the blocks......total coat not including time.....about 20 bux in sand paper/discs.

Impressive.

But for the time being Im thinking that Nathan wants to keep his gelcoat and ditch the BP ..

Thats why I and BWT suggested a chemical stripper. If you media blast BP your into sanding and buffing same with scratches from abrasives ..

I gonna bandwagon with BWT ..

YD.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

locally they do dry ice blasting and soda blasting to remove AF paint. I simply repainted the bottom of my Rogue. not needed as I trailer most places, however a can of AF paint was less than removal and polishing.

 

[BWT]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

Your pod casts are amazing; I?ve just had a vision of teak deck on the boat! please keep them up!
And with that stripper stuff do i have to use a chisel to remove it? This will be the first time i have owned i boat and i really don't want to damage it

Thank you! I need all the encouragement I can get as it's very time consuming and I don't make a dime on them but to answer your Q about having to use a chisel, it really depends on how tough the surface is that you're removing. A narrow width surface like a chisel is going to have more pressure per SQ inch than a wider scraper and hence have an easier time getting under the paint to peel it off. I usually start as wide as I can and work down to what ever width works best without killing my shoulders. As a general rule I like to use the least invasive approach to getting something done as it reduces the chance of having to do any "pre" repairs before the actual work.

 

[JSmitty]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

That is a bargain if it worked well. Did it take off all the paint, was yours primered also?

If it was primered then it was the same color (black) as the bottom paint. But it had a couple coats of paint.

It stripped everything down to the sanded gel.

I watched him do a ~35' cruiser and it stripped obviously many coats of paint right off. And coal is supposed to be a lot less abrasive than sand. I wouldn't think it's less abrasive than soda, but I don't know.

 

[JSmitty]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

If you media blast BP your into sanding and buffing same with scratches from abrasives ..

Every place I know sands the bottom before applying a barrier or bottom paint. I thought that was the common way. Maybe not everywhere though. If that's the case you've still got scratches.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: Antifoul! How can i remove antifoul? looks terrible and it's not even kept in wat

Every place I know sands the bottom before applying a barrier or bottom paint. I thought that was the common way. Maybe not everywhere though. If that's the case you've still got scratches.

Not with Skipsand primers .. they just put that crap on and BP or BC it. Fails every time.

Lucky were not talking about a 40' SR or CR or YS..

Failed every time.

IF the Prep was right in the first place .. then there should be no problem. Epoxy barrier coats will hold for the most part.

If you want to get your bottom back to Gel then Soda blasting will get you to a blasted surface. Sand and buff if you have the gel left to do it.

YD.