Bill, Come on,you are too young to be in that old school. I stood back today and looked at that big hull and thought about how long it would take me to scrape and sand it down to the gel coat ,probably 200 hrs.,then walked right over to the office to inquire about sand blasting. Eric has me rethinking using a stripper,like Peel Away,but my negative side figures it probably doesn't work as advertised,nothing does. 

Stay Safe Down There,

Pat

SM Shenanigans

-----Original Message-----
From: CW Bill Rouse <brouse@...>
To: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io Notification <main@amelyachtowners.groups.io>
Sent: Thu, Jul 16, 2020 4:20 pm
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Sand Blasting vs. Soda

Well, in this case, I am more old-fashion than Eric! Scrape, then sand.

	CW Bill Rouse Amel Owners Yacht School +1 832-380-4970 | brouse@... Address: 720 Winnie, Galveston Island, Texas 77550  Website: www.AmelOwnersYachtSchool.com

View My Training Calendar

On Thu, Jul 16, 2020 at 2:38 PM Patrick McAneny via groups.io <sailw32=aol.com@groups.io> wrote:

Eric, I would think with 13 gallons you would be able to coat the boat 4 times. Did it take multiple coats to get it down to the gel coat,was it the kind of stripper you place plastic over ? It seems like so much work,that I would like to have it sand blasted and be done with it,but on the other hand I don't want to damage the gel coat. There is always pros &cons ,decisions are never easy and obvious,at least not for me.

Thanks,

Pat

SM Shenanigans

-----Original Message-----
From: eric freedman <kimberlite@...>
To: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io; Mark McGovern <mfmcgovern@...>
Sent: Thu, Jul 16, 2020 2:43 pm
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Sand Blasting vs. Soda

I preferred to do it the old fashioned way. I brought Kimberlite down to gel coat using 13 gallons of chemical stripper. It is tedious and 100% safe. You just don't know how good the operator of the soda blaster is. He might have 20 years of experience-- doing it the way. All the operator of the blaster has to do is lose concentration and blast right through the gelcoat and into Amels unique interior barrier coating.
Just a suspenders and belt solution. after washing the remnants of the stripper off , i had the boat sanded and applied 4 coats of Interprotect.
Kimberlite should now be good for another 18 years. Fair Winds
Eric

On July 16, 2020 at 2:33 PM Mark McGovern <mfmcgovern@...> wrote:

Pat,

Soda Blasting is significantly less aggressive then Sand Blasting and is much less likely to cause damage to your gelcoat.  Personally, I would not have my boat bottom Sand Blasted.

When I was considering what to do with Cara's bottom to remove all the layers of old anti-fouling, I contacted Olivier Beaute.  Olivier had done our pre-purchase survey and as part of the survey report he had recommended that we do something to remove the large accumulation of old antifouling at our next haul out.  When I asked him about Soda Blasting, he wrote:

"This is a good way to remove the old anti-fouling coats, as long as the operator is careful and does not insist too much on a specific area. In fact, as soon as the white gel-coat can be seen, the operator must move its tool. With 22 years of practice, these people surely know what they're doing.  What would be bad is to remove the gel-coat and get to the GRP, which would mean the glass scales coat is affected. This sometimes happens with dry sand- blasting, more rarely with wet-sand  blasting."

I also asked about adding a barrier coat after Soda Blasting, and he replied:

 "AMEL spreads polyester resin with glass scales, in the mold, after the gel coat is sprayed and before the first glass cloth. No epoxy as polyester and epoxy are not compatible when wet.  This is supposed to fight water penetration and it works rather good.  The epoxy coat as a « barrier » is not necessary because you already have one. Moreover, before you could apply epoxy, you would need to wait for the hull to be very dry.  All you need before the anti fouling is a coat of the primer recommended by the anti fouling manufacturer."

We decided to do two coats of Interprotect 2000e before applying out bottom coat anyway since we had her down to gelcoat for what we hope is the only time in our ownership.  

--
Mark McGovern
SM #440 Cara
Deale, MD USA

 

Hi together!

We have on our SM from 2002 the original B&G Hydra 2000 system.
This morning, I switched it on and all 4 displays on the helmstaition showing nothing at all. But down at the navstation the Hydra 2000 FFD shows all except the wind informations.
 I’m not very experienced in electronics but my suggestion is the processor could be the problem.

Has anyone ever had this problem?

Thank you 

Stefan
SM OYA, 373
Tobago Cays, Grenadines 

Eric, I would think with 13 gallons you would be able to coat the boat 4 times. Did it take multiple coats to get it down to the gel coat,was it the kind of stripper you place plastic over ? It seems like so much work,that I would like to have it sand blasted and be done with it,but on the other hand I don't want to damage the gel coat. There is always pros &cons ,decisions are never easy and obvious,at least not for me.

Thanks,

Pat

SM Shenanigans

-----Original Message-----
From: eric freedman <kimberlite@...>
To: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io; Mark McGovern <mfmcgovern@...>
Sent: Thu, Jul 16, 2020 2:43 pm
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Sand Blasting vs. Soda

I preferred to do it the old fashioned way. I brought Kimberlite down to gel coat using 13 gallons of chemical stripper. It is tedious and 100% safe. You just don't know how good the operator of the soda blaster is. He might have 20 years of experience-- doing it the way. All the operator of the blaster has to do is lose concentration and blast right through the gelcoat and into Amels unique interior barrier coating.
Just a suspenders and belt solution. after washing the remnants of the stripper off , i had the boat sanded and applied 4 coats of Interprotect.
Kimberlite should now be good for another 18 years. Fair Winds
Eric

On July 16, 2020 at 2:33 PM Mark McGovern <mfmcgovern@...> wrote:

Pat,

Soda Blasting is significantly less aggressive then Sand Blasting and is much less likely to cause damage to your gelcoat.  Personally, I would not have my boat bottom Sand Blasted.

When I was considering what to do with Cara's bottom to remove all the layers of old anti-fouling, I contacted Olivier Beaute.  Olivier had done our pre-purchase survey and as part of the survey report he had recommended that we do something to remove the large accumulation of old antifouling at our next haul out.  When I asked him about Soda Blasting, he wrote:

"This is a good way to remove the old anti-fouling coats, as long as the operator is careful and does not insist too much on a specific area. In fact, as soon as the white gel-coat can be seen, the operator must move its tool. With 22 years of practice, these people surely know what they're doing.  What would be bad is to remove the gel-coat and get to the GRP, which would mean the glass scales coat is affected. This sometimes happens with dry sand- blasting, more rarely with wet-sand  blasting."

I also asked about adding a barrier coat after Soda Blasting, and he replied:

 "AMEL spreads polyester resin with glass scales, in the mold, after the gel coat is sprayed and before the first glass cloth. No epoxy as polyester and epoxy are not compatible when wet.  This is supposed to fight water penetration and it works rather good.  The epoxy coat as a « barrier » is not necessary because you already have one. Moreover, before you could apply epoxy, you would need to wait for the hull to be very dry.  All you need before the anti fouling is a coat of the primer recommended by the anti fouling manufacturer."

We decided to do two coats of Interprotect 2000e before applying out bottom coat anyway since we had her down to gelcoat for what we hope is the only time in our ownership.  

--
Mark McGovern
SM #440 Cara
Deale, MD USA

 

Does anyone on the forum know whether Amel is open for business at the moment, or on summer holidays.  I have emailed Maud at sav@... for availability for some parts and have had no response.
Thanks,
Elaine SM2000 Nebo No. 251

Hi Paul;

 

Can you please share your experience with your installation on your bimini top? This is the location we are looking at for our solar panels, but are concerned about the shadow effect of the boom and sails on power generation. The following are relevant to our design and would appreciate some information about your installation:

 

1. What manufacturer and type of solar did you use?
2. How many panels and what is the total rated wattage?
3. How much is your daily average amp hour production on a normal day.
4. How many solar controllers ?
5. Parallel or series connection of the panels?

 

We are trying to decide whether to go with a soft or hardtop for the panels. Any issues with your installation or anything you would do different? If you have some pictures, that would help.

 

Happy Sailing;

 

 

Mohammad and Aty

B&B Kokomo

AMEL 54 #099

 

From: main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io <main@AmelYachtOwners.groups.io> On Behalf Of Paul Stascavage via groups.io
Sent: Thursday, July 16, 2020 6:22 AM
To: main@amelyachtowners.groups.io
Subject: Re: [AmelYachtOwners] Stainless steel arch Canaries

 

Andy,

 

Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the group. You will find a wealth of information and help here from some very knowledgeable and like minded sailors. 

 

I was given some very good advice when we first purchased our SM and that was to wait at least a year before making any changes to the original design/systems. We waited at least two years and I am glad we did. 

 

Likewise I wanted to add solar when we purchased but I heeded the advice. 

 

The waiting allowed us to evaluate whether we really wanted solar, determine what our normal energy needs were, and to see enough other Amel installations to know whether we wanted hard panels on an arch, the rails, etc or to go with flexible panels somewhere else. 

 

We opted for flexible panels on our Bimini top. 

 

I am so glad we waited as I now have a system that I am 100 percent happy with and one that is exceeding our expectations on power generation. 

 

You can read about our project and install here:

 

http://ritakathryn.com/2020/02/one-bad-apple/

 

All the Best,

 

Paul Stascavage 

S/V Rita Kathryn  SM #466

 

RitaKathryn.com

 

Currently Exploring City Island