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Hull Bottom Strip/Barrier/Paint

Summary
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Bottom paint was flaking very badly. If I was going to strip the paint, I might as well take it down all the way and put on a barrier coat (right!).

It wasn't until after I started work on the bottom that I realized two very interesting things:

1) The boat had been in some very bad situation(s). After grinding off the bottom paint, I discovered some very deep gouges and scrapes on the starboard side of the hull at the chine. These were not structural in nature, but certainly needed attention. These may have been part of the same situation that allowed so much sand to become part of the bilge inside :(

2) The "factory" trailer setup allowed for very convenient (and complete) bottom work to be performed without the aid of a lift. More on this here.

What follows is a chronological pictorial with descriptions.

I tried three different kind of strippers, a caustic spray, an evironmentally friendly liquid (with a nice orange smell), and a gel-type. NONE, I repeat, NONE of them worked for me. The quickest way I found was to use a cheap drill (it will be destroyed by the dust) and lots of 5" sanding pads/disks with 40-50grit paper. This had the added advantage of leaving a nice rough surface for the first coat of epoxy.

This is the only picture I took during the grinding process. It was quite nasty. LOTS of dust masks and tyvek suits. It was also a lot of fun (NOT!) crawling around in and out between the trailer bunks all the time.

Here we are finally finished sanding. The green fairing compound that the factory used is almost the same color as the gelcoat. In this picture, I have applied two coats of clear epoxy. Sanding a little with 80 grit between the coats.

Next is the first coat of bottom paint. I put on a different color for the first coat. That way when I start to see black through the subsequent coats, I'll know it's time to paint again. I read on one of the bulletin boards that it is a good idea to apply the first coat of bottom paint just before the previous barrier coat is completely set. It gives it a chemical bond. This sounded logical, so I did that.

Hours and "Cost"

66 hours actual working time
50 sheets of random orbital sandpaper
20 40-grit grinding disks
1 $19.00 drill destroyed
1 $5.00 orbital sander drive belt
5 10pc packs of dust masks
10 dust/paint suits
Epoxy - Epiglass 2 Gallons
Barrier coat - Interlux Interprotect 2000E 2qts with associated thinner
Bottom paint - West Marine CPP Ablative 1gal black, 2gal red

Lessons Learned

Bottom paint strippers don't.
Bottom paint grinding dust kills grass much better than Roundup.