Sounds like this months site project is stripping bottom paint. I have my hull flipped over and it is still a real *****. I've gone through (50) 80 grit disks and now up to (10) 50 grit and still am not half-way done after around 8 hours.

I couldn't imagine doing this work on my back.

I'll be making my way to West Marine this week and Neff shortly thereafter.

Sikorsky Aircraft. We build Blackhawk helicopters amongst many other things at my site.

That aviation paint stripper is really amazing. Put on one coat, pressure washed, put on another coat, pressure washed....bottom paint gone. Started at 5:42, done at 7:19

Glad it worked! I might get another gallon of aviation stripper and rent a pressure washer this weekend.

I wish I was having that luck. I put on the stripper, let it sit 10 minutes, and pressure washed it, repeated, and barely made a dent. I'm not sure if I just have more layers or I need to let it sit longer. :head:

I'm gonna try again tomorrow morning and then its gonna be time to look like a smurf with my palm sander.

I have been using a heavy duty Porter Cable sander with 80 grit paper and its still a b**ch. I tried 50 and it cut thru it fast but gouges the gelcoat. Maybe a palm sander with 50 aint so rough. Also are you only brushing the stripper in one direction? If you brush it like paint it evaporates fast.

Two words.....soda blast

http://www.harborfreight.com/catalog...q=soda+blaster

Tent the boat with visqueen, wear a mask for the dust,.. done in less than a day with no damage to your hull. It WILL make a dusty mess, but it's a clean mess that you can just vacuum up with a shop vac.

Ok, A new soda blaster wasn't in my budget, so hand sanding it is!! Palm sander is crap, so away I went with my Dewalt drill today. I'm about 75% done, and plan on finishing up in morning followed by bottom paint. Holy $h!T. Talk about looking like a smurf!! Lmao.

I had to have a little instant gratification and painted just the aft section. Nice!!! I love it. All the hard work is definitely going to be worth it. I will post pics when the entire project is done. I bought it on June 1st and plan on splashing it July 1st.

New Cherry dash is done. New Cherry cuddy door is done. All decals removed. New decals installed. New Teak Cuddy guides installed. All wiring redone. Rod holders have been reglassed, cleaned up and painted and reinstalled. Mama is busy at work recovering all the cushions for the cuddy. All that will be left after this weekend is to paint a 3" black stripe where the original decals were.

It has been well worth the experience so far and for my first boat, I love it!! And it damn sure doesn't look 22 years old.

Stay tuned for upcoming boat porn!!

I'm glad you were able to find something that worked for you. I can tell others that if it sits too long it resolidifies and doesn't work as well. There is a sweet spot in the amount of time it takes to soften the paint and then get hard again. If I had not tireds to do it all at once I could have done it in one application.

Also, you're right, palm sanders aint ****. Orbitals with 50 grit is the minimum for this type of job.

I THINK...you may have had the same trouble as me...EPOXY paint...regular bottom paint apparently comes off w/stripper...but mine, and sounds like yours just LAUGHED at stripper...I think it's epoxy paint on there...sanded all mine off w/60 grit disc on a drill motor...then two coats of regular West Bottom Shield...