Antifouling paint removal

[Dandezinna33]

Hey everyone! I just bought this 1990 sunbird corisca 175, great boat so far! But I’ve been trying to figure out the best way to remove the ugly antifouling paint from the hull Without removing the gelcoat. It’s super patchy and looks terrible. I have power washed a lot of it off but can’t seem get it all off. This is only going to be a fresh water boat. Any advice would be much appreciated!

thanks
dan

 

[alldodge]

Sand paper and new paint

 

[dingbat]

You can have it soda blasted, walnut shell blasted etc. but nothing short of new gel coat or paint will make it look decent again

I had the same issue on my previous boat. After weighing the alternatives, I just put new Bottomkote (hard) antifouling paint on it and moved on.

 

[tpenfield]

Pressure washer, then try some 'peel-away' paint remover. Use drop cloth plastic to cover the peel-away for a few days while it does its work.

 

[Drivewayboater2]

As Tpenfield says paint remover. Try Franmar’s soy bean based paint remover. Safe, Bio degradable and gel like. Easy to apply. I got a quart of it to last month see if it worked. It actually does! Covering with plastic once applied makes it work even better. I tried various times to see what was best. Experimented with 2,4,and 12 hour times. For my 30 year old boat with several bottom coats 12 hours overnight seemed to work best. Remove plastic and Scrape off with putty knife. It got it down to almost gelcoat. Still have some sanding to do but certainly not as much if I were just sanding.

 

[Scott Danforth]

80 grit on the DA, if you are careful, then you can go back and either paint, or if you are really really careful and there is still a thick layer of gel, you can start progressively getting finer with sand paper, until you get to 1000 grit, then you can polish the bottom if you want.

remember, you need to get the boat off the trailer and properly supported for bottom work

https://forums.iboats.com/forum/own...12516-1988-rogue-2420?p=10704131#post10704131

I simply sprayed gel and put the boat back on the trailer.

https://forums.iboats.com/forum/own...12516-1988-rogue-2420?p=10716147#post10716147