How long is my boat good for before I need to sand again?

[lvl]

I am just about done sanding my transom and stringers but it is almost time to cover up the boat for the winter. When I open it up again in the spring will everything need to be sanded again? Will just a good clean with acetone be good before laying in new fiberglass be good?

Thx

 

[ondarvr]

Re: How long is my boat good for before I need to sand again?

If you could ensure that no contaminate ever touched the surface, then yes it would be good to go next year, or decades for that matter.

The problem is there are contaminates everywhere, just the pollution in the air will deposit gunk on the surface which will affect the bond.

The best thing to do is wait and do all the sanding next year, a solvent wash would help, but you would need to use different solvents to remove different contaminates and you don't really know what?s on the surface.

The first time I did a major refinish near an airport I did all of the sanding one day (3 people sanding for 10 hours) and the next morning when we arrived the entire surface was covered with a dark haze. It was from the stuff in the jet exhaust settling on the surface. We had to cover it, clean it, re-sand it, then spray it.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: How long is my boat good for before I need to sand again?

Hello lvl..

The simple answer is NO.. you cant let it sit prepped all winter and then continue were you left off..

You will have to reprep/scuff again ...

Will not matter if you cover it up good..

Dont get me wrong here..you wont have to start from scratch.. just make sure its dry and then scuff/acetone and lam

YD.

 

[lvl]

Re: How long is my boat good for before I need to sand again?

So a quick once over will do the trick? Will I need the agressive 32 grit or will like a 60 grit do the trick since I am not sanding away dead glass? Would hate for all this time to be a waste. I did underestimate how long this would take doing it for 3 to 4 hrs a week.:redface: Oh well its getting there and will be done right when I do finish.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: How long is my boat good for before I need to sand again?

yup.. hand with 40-60.

Unless you have some gooage that got on there during storage.

I would put some anti moisture stuff in there during the winter.

YD.