Paint Removal

[grundasaurus]

Hey Everyone,

I've been pondering going over and re-fairing the P19. It was painted with a single part poly paint from interlux, and I was wondering if there are any ways to remove the paint without having to sand it all off. Can you use paint stripper on fibreglass boats? Soda blasting also seems to be an option. It would be nice to get rid of some dings and fairing mistakes.

[fallguy1000]

Sanding is best. While you are making love to the thing; you'll get to know her better.

A festool rts400 works well...sand with 180 or 120

[BarraMan]

I agree! I think sanding is the only way to go.

I can't get my head around removing the paint from my build. After fairing it got:
3 x coats of epoxy
3 x coats of epoxy primer
2 x coats of Perfection undercoat (2 pack polyurethane)
3 x coats of Perfection top coat (2 pack poly)

[Jaysen]

I’m pretty sure Cracker Larry used paint stripper and maybe cape man too. I’m not sure which ones. There will always be some sanding though.

Hopefully cape man will chime in.

[cape man]

Sand.

On the OD18 I originally used a two part epoxy paint designed for industrial uses, covered with a two part clear Uracell that they also sold. The clear coat is what yellowed and failed. This year I sanded everything down to the primer (and beyond in some places ), refaired with quick fair, sanded again, applied 3 coats of S3 yacht primer, sanded again, and then 4 coats of EMC Quantum.

Anything that would have stripped the epoxy paint would probably have compromised the epoxy below it, and I didn't even look to see if such a product existed. I don't remember Larry ever using a paint stripper. All that said, if you think you can find something that would soften your paint and not the epoxy try a small area first.

I certainly have made some serious love with my boat... Painting is MUCH easier than repainting!

I used the same industrial paint on the SC16, but covered it with clear EMC Quantum which hopefully will protect the paint from UV and not yellow or fail like the Uracell product. That project had two main goals.- less than 100 lbs, and less than $1,000. Looking at Coach's new SC16 with Awlgrip and Sea Deck, perhaps the next build won't have such an aggressive budget...

[Jaysen]

Ah. that's right. You had the "man's manly paint" that was like removing white from rice.

I guess my thought on this (as a lazy lazy person when it comes to finishing) is that a quick test of a simple paint striper would tell you what you want to know. I know that you can use that "citrus stuff" from the box stores on rustoleum with no obvious issues on the epoxy (I tested it on a small project that wasn't a boat). To cape man's point though, I think it has more to do with the top coat and the stripper needed.

Here is a search of this forum with posts that are informative: https://forums.bateau2.com/search.php?k ... B+stripper

Page two of thats each has a post by Jacques. I think I'd like some statement from him about his answer still being applicable today.

[grundasaurus]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone! It sounds like I'll have a lot of sanding in my future, makes me wish we hadn't rushed the fairing Since we didn't use an epoxy paint I might do a couple of sample pieces with a gentle paint stripper, if that even exists haha. I'll post photos of the boat's new paint scheme when I'm done; might go lighter than the current navy blue.

[BB Sig]

Good luck!

Don't wait to show us the final product! We like pictures of the journey!

[pee wee]

Anything that would have stripped the epoxy paint would probably have compromised the epoxy below it, and I didn't even look to see if such a product existed. I don't remember Larry ever using a paint stripper. All that said, if you think you can find something that would soften your paint and not the epoxy try a small area first.

I recall him using paint stripper once, going by memory it was citrus stripper that he used. It might have been on that Sea Ox repair he did, I'm not sure.