Sand blasting

t37-panacea · **Joined:** 23 Dec 2006 17:26 **Posts:** 75

Panacea came from the Great Lakes by truck to the east coast. I chose sand blasting to other ?more manual? methods to remove many years of bottom paint build up. The yard said they could do it, so I came back to find this?

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and many more like it. There were also many hundreds of small pin holes in the gelcoat. They used a very aggressive agent called black beauty to do the sand blasting. If I had this to do over again, I would choose a much less aggressive blasting agent! I understand the skill level of the operator is also very important. The repairs to the sand blasting took a lot of time to find, fill the holes and fair the hull. Once this was done, I barrier coated the hull with 5 coats of Interlux InterProtect 2000E followed by one coat of Interlux Micron Extra marine bottom paint following the manufacturers instructions closely. I will follow up with an alternate color just prior to launch to let me know when it is time to repaint.

T37Chef · **Posted:** 14 May 2007 17:53

We had the same done to our boat last spring for the same reasons. I wish I had gone with soda blasting instead. It ended up exposing hundreds if tiny blisters...so I guess it was not a bad thing. In all my research I found "sand" blasting is not recommended, soda blasting is more delicate to the gel coat and fiberglass. As a result I washed the hull once a week for several weeks to rid all the deposits and also the acids as a result of the blistering. Then let it dry thoroughly to the acceptable water meter level (can?t remember the magic # right now) before the first of 5 barrier coats. Be sure to apply the first bottom paint within the cure time for the last barrier coat applied to obtain a good bond. Otherwise you'll be a sandin again.

In addition, the sand blasting gets most of the bottom paint off but you MUST remove every trace of it to ensure the bond to the hull. This meant an entire day of just sanding the bottom. I rented this tool (http://www.festoolusa.com/ProductDetail ... did=571536) from the yard and found it to be an excellent tool for the job. I burned up my shop vac in about 2 hours due to the fine particles of the gel coat clogging the motor Mad

before I dropped the whole $25 to rent the festool. Several others are using it in the yard as well with great results. You really don?t even need to wear the space suit using this.

Send me an email if you would like more info...and look into the massage therapist and book your appointment now Chuckle

rules

Tortuga's Lie · **Joined:** 27 Oct 2006 10:32 **Posts:** 827

I am approaching my twelfth year after I did the barrier coat operation and so far so good. What is the life expectancy of the barrier coat anyway?? What are your experiences?

Tartan37403 · **Joined:** 24 Oct 2006 12:51 **Posts:** 48

Not sure of the life of barrier coat either-I'm 15+years with the Interlux product with no problems(knock on wood). I do haul each winter which is a big factor I suspect.

Tartan37.com

Sand blasting

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