bottom blasting

[Charlie J]

need some feed back on the types of blasting, soda , plastic pellets , and of course sand, has anyone used these types and what is the pros and cons

[Bob H.]

CWJ,

I blasted my entire boat inside and out with corn, very good results, the inside looks like the day they laid up the hull and the bottom right down to the gel coat. Less aggressive than sand which is a good thing, only trick is to keep the gun moving and never camp out in one spot too long. Environmentally friendly to boot. Hope it helps Bob H.

[captbone]

I had my 25ft Bertram soda blasted a few months ago. It was great and worth every single cent. I had to blasted down to orginal gel coat, then skuffed it up with 80 grit and in the spring I an going to throw on 4-5 coats of interprotect followed by good bottom paint.

I am in Babylon and used No chem stripping in Holbrook, they were great.

[thuddddddd]

one of those surplus russky shoulder mounted balsters would be my recomendation. long as the afganies have cornered the market on them

[Brewster Minton]

walnut shells is the way to go.Any good blaster will have them.

[Mikey]

What is interprotect?

[Charlie J]

thanks for the input guys, looks like walnut shells gets the nod.
mikey interprotect is a brand name for barrier coat, i belive interlux puts it out

[STeveZ]

Two years ago the surveyer said, "You have two blisters but its hard to tell with all this bottom paint"

This summer my yard guy said, "These hulls are solid, I've got a guy who can do a light sandblast and just remove this paint. Then we can prime and paint"

Next I got this message, "Bottom turned out to be a lot worse than we expected, I had him go ahead and blast it heavier to open up the blisters."

Blast, grind, fill (by me), barrierx4, bottomx3 will = $3K

[Capt Dick Dean]

Charlie, I did mine by sand blasting right down to the gel coat. I mean all the paint came off. Three coats of Interprotect. That was it. $12.00 per foot, I hung the side curtins and put the tarp on the ground. Did the Interprotect myself and the three coats of paint.
Call Dennis if you wish, 631 957 2262.

I was told that you must dry out the hull first. It's too late now if your going in the water in April. I took mine out in October and blasted it then.Dried out over the winter and did the Interprotect late in April. Dried out for six months.

[Charlie J]

dick
going in late this year

[gplume]

I soda blasted my boat last year, then touched the whole thing up with an orbital and #60. Came out sweet. Have a few blisters to fill, and then 4-5 coats of interprotect, followed by bottom paint.

Do recomend the soda route, but make sure you tent it well. I had had a blue bottom paint soda cloud floating around my neiborhood. Good thing it was cold out, neibors were inside.

[Matt29]

Due to more pressing priorities (rudder shelf, gas tank) the complete bottom job will have to wait until next fall. I just got the boat this past fall, and can't say with absolute certainty that I trust the condition of the bottom until I do it right next year. In the meantime, I was hoping you guys could provide some input as to the best alternative to servicing the bottom for the time being. Is scraping and sanding the rough patches followed by another coat of bottom paint good enough for one more year? Or is there some other reasonable efforts that anyone recommends that offer signifigant value to the bottom without hitting the wallet too hard? Thanks, Matt

[randall]

unless it is severly blistered or compromised in some way i would just power wash it and roll on some paint....one season wont make a big dif if you planning on a major deal in the fall

[bob lico]

you did the right thing capt dick dean. trust me i seen every method used at the boat yards.you should have weight your boat before and after.what a pleasant surprise!no boat yard in the world would tell you this.cetainly could not make money tieing up work space for 6 months.
bob

[Capt Dick Dean]

Matt, I'd do what Randalllll suggestd. But when you do it, use ablative paint as your bottom paint. It costs more in the start but cheaper the following years.

My ablative paint comes off because of the high speed of the boat. But that's o.k. We like fast!

[Matt29]

Thanks for the support guys. I'll look into the ablative paint, as well. Now that you guys have confirmed my direction for the bottom, it's time to continue with the gas tank game. To be continued...
Thanks again, Matt

[Rawleigh]

I use Petit Ultima SR. Expensive, but worth it!