[Attachment(s) from bob.sarff@... included below]

My Amel Maramu is in Fiji and I had local labor scrape the bottom.  It was a a dirty job and took two to three workers about a 7days (Fiji time) to finish.  We are now letting the boat sit out of the water during the summer  cyclone season and will use a filler and then several coats of barrier coat before applying bottom paint.  The reason I choose to strip the bottom in the first place was that the lower layers of bottom pant were beginning to fail and sluff off and I had some blisters.

 

Bob

S\V Chara

 

 

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

 

From: Steve Lawson lawson911@... [amelyachtowners]
Sent: Monday, January 16, 2017 7:34 AM
To: amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Amel Yacht Owners] Sandblasting Good or Bad?(to removeAntifouling to Gellcoat)

 

 

I did my bottom a few years ago, and my current boat is a Dufour 39 ( working my way up to an Amel ). It's a dirty, rotten, time consuming job, that you may do once, but will never repeat. Sandblasting is old school, the latest and greatest is soda blasting, which does a great job, is environmentally friendly, and is easier on the hull than sandblasting.
Cheers

On Jan 16, 2017, at 9:31 AM, Patrick Mcaneny sailw32@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

I have been thinking I would like to get rid of all the layers of bottom paint. I was wondering about chemical stripers , if they work and how well. Seems like you may run the risk of scratching the gel coat scraping , is that a concern and how wide of a scraper would you use. I got a quote of almost $3000. to sandblast, more than I expected , being a one day job , but if it saves ten days of scraping ... Just wondering what others have done. Also wondering how one deals with the bottom of the keel only a couple of inches off the ground and resting on blocking.

Pat SM#123

-----Original Message-----
From: James Alton lokiyawl2@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com>
To: amelyachtowners <amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Sun, Jan 15, 2017 8:16 pm
Subject: Re: [Amel Yacht Owners] Sandblasting Good or Bad?(to remove Antifouling to Gellcoat)

 

I have always avoided the chemical strippers myself due to concerns of short and long term damage to the gel coat.  The stuff goes into any cracks in the gel coat and can get into the laminate and or into any voids under the gel coat which is not a good thing.   The suggestion that was made to use a good sharp scrapper is IMO a good way to go,  just take your time.  As was also suggested, go with the carbide blades.  The Bahco 660 or 665 scrapper works well for me,  you can find these on Amazon.  You can also sand it off with a dustless system or use this as a follow up to the scrapping.  Definitely avoid using a heat gun as it is just too easy to craze the gel coat. 

 

Best of luck,

 

James Alton

SV Sueno,  Maramu #220

Sardinia,  Italy

 

On Jan 15, 2017, at 1:11 PM, santorinlo18@... [amelyachtowners] <amelyachtowners@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

 

 

Hi Forum, Just about to scrap bottom - is sand blasting good method? seen the end result - looks neat but rough compare to manual. Not sure if good or bad, however, about 50% cost compare to manual + chemical. Any experiences or view