DIY Soda Blasting

garbubba · #1 02-19-2015, 09:44 PM

OK guys I'm interested in soda blasting the hull of my 1983 V-20. She was bottom painted with black anti fouling paint.
I've tried some chemicals with no luck, If I have to sand it, then I'm sure I'll have to repaint which I don't want to do.
I see these online vids of guys taking down to the gell & a bit of polishing - BAM!
Almost bought a Harbor Freight machine last week, but something told me no...
Haven't been able to find a rental machine, local guys are big $$.

What do you think, anybody have a machine to recommend?

Doug

scook · #2 02-20-2015, 12:00 AM

My son is restoring a Datsun 240Z for a guy and bought a sand/soda blaster from Summit Racing. Don't know what he paid, but he said he didn't trust HF brand and it's been working well for him. He's done quite a bit of sand and some soda.

I just looked on Summit's site and don't see anything that looks like it. I also don't know squat about blasting down to gelcoat.

If you're interested in his comments on the blaster and how it works with soda, I'd be glad to talk to him about it.

Destroyer · #3 02-20-2015, 02:55 AM

I have the HF unit. It works quite well. BUT... just be aware that soda blasting makes a HUGE mess. If you're going to do it tent the boat with plastic sheet, and make sure you have plastic on the ground also. You'r going to have this white powder all over the place. That being said, soda blasting is fairly fast and easy to learn, and it gets the job done with no damage to the gel coat as long as you keep the blaster moving. I'm sure the commercial units with the bigger gun orifice will do a quicker job, but for the one time use and then it sits for 5 years the HF unit fills the bill nicely.

cfelton · #4 02-20-2015, 09:08 AM

Ive been contemplating doing the same thing. I saw a few sodablasters on ebay but dont remember what brand they were. I think they were around 100.00 for the entire kit. I buy 13 lb bags of baking soda from sams club really cheap. I wonder how many pounds of soda it will take?

Destroyer · #5 02-20-2015, 11:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cfelton

Ive been contemplating doing the same thing. I saw a few sodablasters on ebay but dont remember what brand they were. I think they were around 100.00 for the entire kit. I buy 13 lb bags of baking soda from sams club really cheap. I wonder how many pounds of soda it will take?

NO.. Don't so it!!! Although the chemical is the same, blast media is processed differently from baking media. The granules are larger and hollow with blast media and they hit with such force that they literally explode when they hit the paint. It's that mini explosion that creates the paint removing. You don't get that effect with the much smaller granules of baking soda. You would waste your money if you tried to use it.

Striper80 · #6 02-21-2015, 07:56 AM

A guy did the bottom of his 23 foot Striper on another site I'm a member of. He tented and covered the ground. after he stripped the paint off he wet sanded and buffed the bottom. It looked good. Make sure you wear a good respirator and not just a dust mask.