Three - Bottom Paint Removal

April 20, 2008 - Bottom Paint Removal: Not a job for the week at heart or back, and there is nothing fun about removing 30+ years of bottom paint jobs. But a sandblaster is the way to make the job less of a back breaker. Bill Bennett loaned me a simple siphon feed sandblasting gun, which simply siphons sand from a bucket or bag of sand thru a simple hose. It took about 100 lbs of air to siphon sufficiently and shoot the sand fast enough to remove the paint. Once I saw white I kept moving till I got a sort of mottled look thru the bottom paint. The next step was to sand off the residual paint with a variable speed random orbit sander. The key with sanding bottom paint is not to sand so fast that the sandpaper disks generates heat. A variable speed random orbit does the trick. My 5" Dewalt was too fast, so my visit to HD found a 6" Rigid brand VSRO sander with lifetime guarantee on parts and service for $129, and it is a powerhouse. I used (4) 60 grit discs for the entire bottom after sandblasting.With the 1st sanding complete, the next step is to sand the entire bottom again with 80 grit as the final sand prep for primer. There were some minor blisters which surfaced when sanding. All of these popped and sanded flush when the raised gelcoat was removed with the sander.I also removed the centerboard today to service the pivot and replace the control line. The pivot is in good shape, but the course thread SS screws (that mounted the pivot bracket to the keel) had deteriated under the heads to a point where they were very thin. I was able to back them out without breaking all but one.I will take the week nights off this week from work on the hull, and finish laminating the various new plywood cabin components like doors, built-in ice chest lid, and minor bulkhead parts. We picked out a mottled dark blue Formica laminate that coordinates with the Sunbrella material for the new cushions. I will sleep good tonight!

Jim