how to remove bottom paint

[maxwell18]

Anybody got tips on removing bottom without damaging the gel coat under it.
Thanks

[slvrlng]

Easy Off oven cleaner.

[fitz73222]

First and foremost protect yourself while doing it. Bottom paint is nasty on the lungs and skin. Wet sanding is probably the best way because of the no dust factor. I would start with 100 grit to bust the surface adhesion, next 220 and then work with 400, 800, and 1000 grit. It is a long process but the eventual results will be worth it. It is safe to assume that the original gelcoat was scuffed with atleast 120 grit to get the paint to stick. You may want to put the boat on blocks to be able to get at the entire hull. Amazingly I was talking to a lady at work today about the same process on her husbands new 20' aquistion that he is bringing back from neglect . Plan on atleast 20 hours of sanding by hand but you can get it back to original and like new if the gelcoat wasn't scuffed to bad on the original first application. You don't happen to have a 2001 20' Osprey with a 115 Johnson by any chance and live in Volusia county Fl ?

[GoneFission]

Soda blasting works well.

[gran398]

We soda-blasted my mess...and it did work.

However, the rebuilder was disappointed with the finish...that is, the bottom paint color (blue)  had leeched into the gel. Ended up finish sanding it anyway. Any more blasting would have eaten into the gel, per the blast guy.

The rebuilder said that if were to do it again...would have put a minimum wage worker on his back for ten hours with a pneumatic sander and a respirator and the job would have turned out better, and cheaper.

Live and learn I reckon.

Plan on respraying correct gelcoat to finish.

[Curious]

I just got done with this project on my 75 22' FF.  I have no idea how many years of bottom paint were on there but it was quite a bit.  In some areas it was already raised and flaking off.  I donned a tyvek suit, respirator, safety glasses and face shield and still got paint chips and dust in my eyes and ears, but it is imperative that you use a good respirator so you don't breath the stuff.  First I scraped off what would come off and that ended up getting the first couple of layers in some spots and all the way down to gelcoat in other spots.  This was very tedious and tiring- you'll find muscles you never knew were there.  Keep in mind I planned on recoating with a fresh layer of bottom paint so I wasn't too worried about damaging the gelcoat.   After scraping I used my Dewalt 5" orbital sander and bought a 25 pack of 40 grit pads.  I have the velcro style pads so as soon as it seemed like it wasn't sanding as well as new I replaced the pad, going through quite a few but not the entire 25.  I was trying to get it down as close to the gelcoat as possible but the oldest layer(s) had hardened like concrete and wouldn't budge.  So I just did my best and feathered in any areas that went all the way down to the gelcoat.  I was careful, but definately ground some gelcoat off in spots, especially around any corners and around the lifting strakes so this is not the method if you are trying to restore the gelcoat.  After that I got as much dust off as I could and repainted it.  It took a few days and it sucked, but it's done.

[flounderpounder225]

We soda-blasted my mess...and it did work.

However, the rebuilder was disappointed with the finish...that is, the bottom paint color (blue)  had leeched into the gel. Ended up finish sanding it anyway. Any more blasting would have eaten into the gel, per the blast guy.

The rebuilder said that if were to do it again...would have put a minimum wage worker on his back for ten hours with a pneumatic sander and a respirator and the job would have turned out better, and cheaper.

Live and learn I reckon.

Plan on respraying correct gelcoat to finish.

I did my 245... it's amazing how much hull is under there when your laying on your back and looking up   What Scott said about the minimum wage worker, and a sander... falls right in line with what someone told me when I was asking what is the best thing to use when removing bottom paint?? Answer: your checkbook. I put stripping bottom paint into the same category as replacing my roof after Hurricane Ivan.  I've done it, but never again.

[LilRichard]

You want a wet sandblasting attachment for your pressure washer.  Something like this:

http://www.pressureparts.com/391510

Easiest thing I have done... all the other ways tend to be more work, and the dry methods are dangerous.

[Mcdiver]

I used a 4000 psi power washer.  Got most of it off, only the dye is left.  I'm thinking about soda blasting the rest.

[gran398]

Mikey,

The soda blast accomplished only a bit faster what your pressure washer did.

Time to go with an orbital sander. Don't soda blast through the remaining gel to remove the ingrained residual stain..the gel will disappear in patches. This is where the min wage worker comes in. Hit it with 180 to start, then 320, etc., etc.

To get back to unpainted pretty...to finish, you'll need to shoot a coat or two of correct matching gelcoat, sanding between coats...then a final sand with 1800-2000 grit, then buff.

[island]

I STRIPPED MY BOAT 2 YEARS AGO I USED A PRODUCT THAT GOES ON LIKE PASTE AND YOU COVER IT WITH A SPECIAL PAPER THEY GIVE SO IT WONT DRY TO QUICK YOU LET SIT OVER NIGHT THEN SCRAP AWAY 80% COMES OFF EASY THE REST SANDED WITH 40-60 GRIT PAPER ON ORBITAL SANDER DO YOURSELF A FAVOR BY THROW AWAY SUIT ,HAT, GLOVES AND VASELINE YOUR FACE  GLASSES FOG UP MESSY BUT THE OUTCOME IS WORTH IT I THEN DID THE INTERLUX BARRIER PAINT SYSTEM AND COATED W/ ABLATIVE PAINT LOOKS LIKE A NEW BOAT ABOUT 40 HRS OF WORK SORRY CANT THINK OF THE PASTE PRODUCT BUT IT IS A STRIPPER I BELIEVE I BOUGHT AT HOME DEPOT

[RickK]

I STRIPPED MY BOAT 2 YEARS AGO I USED A PRODUCT THAT GOES ON LIKE PASTE AND YOU COVER IT WITH A SPECIAL PAPER THEY GIVE SO IT WONT DRY TO QUICK YOU LET SIT OVER NIGHT THEN SCRAP AWAY 80% COMES OFF EASY THE REST SANDED WITH 40-60 GRIT PAPER ON ORBITAL SANDER DO YOURSELF A FAVOR BY THROW AWAY SUIT ,HAT, GLOVES AND VASELINE YOUR FACE  GLASSES FOG UP MESSY BUT THE OUTCOME IS WORTH IT I THEN DID THE INTERLUX BARRIER PAINT SYSTEM AND COATED W/ ABLATIVE PAINT LOOKS LIKE A NEW BOAT ABOUT 40 HRS OF WORK SORRY CANT THINK OF THE PASTE PRODUCT BUT IT IS A STRIPPER I BELIEVE I BOUGHT AT HOME DEPOT

Time to press the "Caps Lock" on your keyboard again island so you don't look like you're yelling.