Seafarer Hull Restoration (Work In Progress)

[noXcuse]

I have to say, for being 30 years old, my boat still looks pretty darn good. But, I want the bottom paint GONE! I keep the boat on a trailer, so it's useless and does nothing but slow me down. Since it's flaking off, I'd rather get rid of it than paint over it. Doing this has turned into a full-on hull restoration. Only because I'm kind of OCD. I have to sand and buff the bottom, so might as well do it all. I have found a couple very small places that need the gelcoat repaired. My cousin works at a boat yard and can get me color matched gelcoat at cost. Can't complain there.

I know some of you are going to cringe when you see what I'm using to soften up the bottom paint. Paint stripper from Home Depot. But, it's working and hasn't even thought about damaging the gelcoat. I actually have a piece of the original transom that the last owner gave me. He had the transom cut out and replaced, due to typical transom rot. I used the paint stripper on that before I put it on the boat. I know I could take it to get soda blasted or peanut shell blasted, but what's the fun in that? Plus, I can't see spending $1,000 just to do something that I can do at home for $30. Sure, it'll take alot longer, but I'll appreciate it more.

In the process, I plan on replacing all of the plastic thru-hull fittings with stainless fittings. I just took off the teak swim platform today, so that I can sand and polish the transom. I still have to remove the trim tabs, tri-ducer, and bow rail. I also removed all of the striping on the hull. My plans are to replace it with new stuff. The old stripe tape looked horrible.

LOTS of sanding, polishing, and buffing in the near future. I plan on taking lots of pictures during this process, so stay tuned. Time is limited, so this may take a couple months. Here's what I have so far..

 

[noXcuse]

Got some more done today. I have to be honest, this sucks. :bang

I talked to one of my buddies today, who does body work and painting on commercial trucks. Instead of making it look like it did 30 years ago, he's going to get the paint code for the new Grady White "sand" optional gelcoat for the new Grady's. He's going to spray just the sides for me with Dupont Imron, and just like the new GW Freedom like pictured below.

I found one spot on the port side chine that some idiot used Bondo on. I'm going to have to dig that out and fix it.

 

[DennisG01]

Very cool. I like seeing the progress through the pictures. And, I'm glad you posted about the Kleen Strip. I want to remove the paint from my outboard bracket and I didn't really feel like sanding. I totally spaced on using stripper - thanks!

If I may ask one, silly question... Is there any particular reason you're not blocking the boat? It would certainly make your life a lot easier if you didn't have to work around the rollers. If you havn't blocked a boat before, I can understand any hesitancy. But, if you can find a friend that has experience, it's no more than hour-long job.

 

[noXcuse]

I was pretty hesitant using the paint stripper. I tried it on an old piece of transom before I used it on the boat. I'm lathering it on with a brush and letting it sit for about 15-20 minutes. Then scraping it with a razor blade scraper. If you leave it on too long and it dries, it's useless. FYI, wear a mask and clothes that you don't care about. The dust is thick and gets everywhere. I have my gas mask from work, so it covers my whole face. That's nice to have while doing this.

I didn't block it because I don't have enough blocks. I'm a cheap bastard, and can't see spending the money on blocks just to do this. I know how to block a boat, but I don't trust cinder blocks enough to lay under 4,000+ pounds. So, I'd end up buying oak cribbing. It's not really that bad under the boat with the trailer there. Plenty of places to rest my head. Once I get it done where it sits, I'll just slide the boat back on the trailer and get where the rollers sit.

 

[DennisG01]

Gotcha - I understand!

Concerning the evaporation/dry rate... What would happen if you laid wax paper over the wet stripper? Do you think that would help it work better? Feel like experimenting and trying small section?

 

[noXcuse]

I'm sure wax paper or even Saran Wrap would work just fine to make it work longer. You really don't NEED it though. The paint stripper that I bought says it works in 30 minutes. I'm scraping it off in 15-20 minutes, depending on how thick the paint is. They sell the same stuff at Home Depot, but says it works in 15 minutes. I'm sure that would peel the paint off in 5-10 minutes. Not sure if that will react to the gelcoat though.

 

[DennisG01]

Cool, that's good to know it works pretty quick on the bottom paint. I've used the stuff in the past, but it was on interior home paint and I wasn't sure how it would compare to bottom paint. How many quarts of that stuff do you think you'll have used when you're done?

 

[noXcuse]

I just finished using my first quart in that last pic. That did everything on the sides, transom, and almost everything forward of the trailer rollers. But, the bottom paint followed the outside chine all the way up to the bow eye.

 

[DennisG01]

Wow, that went pretty far. Thanks!

 

[noXcuse]

No problem. I didn't see a reason to lather it on thick, since it's working just fine with a thin coat.

 

[onoahimahi]

Wow - looks great. I striped an old Corvette that way 30 years ago. I which I had that car now - 1965 327 4-speed convertible. Damn.

 

[noXcuse]

Wow - looks great. I striped an old Corvette that way 30 years ago. I which I had that car now - 1965 327 4-speed convertible. Damn.

Thanks man. Still got ALOT to do. The chines are not fun at all. Saving those for last.

 

[TXDeer5layer]

Nice! I just spent 3k getting my bottom paint sanded off and re-gel-coated. Mine had a bunch of hairline cracks in the gelcoat as well as some actual chips about the size of a quarter, so they had to fill in all the cracks and respray with gelcoat.