coal tar epoxy removal

[erikgreen]

Posting a question here that a friend of mine asked me.. he's thinking about buying a boat, a 55 foot steel hull, that's coated in coal tar epoxy.

He'll need to remove the epoxy and repaint before use, due to environmental regulations and the fact that the coating isn't in good shape. I told him I thought the best way to handle it is soda blasting or chemical removal, costing about $4k, but I was giving him a stock answer, so I thought I'd ask here.

Has anyone here had experience removing coal tar from a steel hull? How'd you do it?

Erik

 

[Bondo]

Re: coal tar epoxy removal

Ayuh,... Last I knew, up here on the River, it's just scrape off the loose stuff,+ put more of the same over it...

 

[erikgreen]

Re: coal tar epoxy removal

Hmm.. that's an issue, new applications of the stuff aren't allowed here. Environmental concerns.

Can you scrape it off cold, or do you need to chemically/heat soften it?

Erik

 

[Bondo]

Re: coal tar epoxy removal

Ayuh,... I donno whether the Regs have changed around here or Not,... Don't believe so...

I believe the boys used air powered putty knives to remove the loose stuff, then painted over it with fresh CTE....

 

[erikgreen]

Re: coal tar epoxy removal

Well, it's a steel hull, so I suppose if soda blasting doesn't work, there's always scraping, propane torches, etc.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Greg Mrozinski]

Re: coal tar epoxy removal

Erik,

I would think for a large steel hulled boat, regular sand blasting would be better than soda blasting. Maybe even shot blasting depending on the thickness of the tar. Probably would be cheaper as well. Just a thought.

 

[erikgreen]

Re: coal tar epoxy removal

I guess we'll have to see when he gets it.. I told him to set aside some money for professional blasting, about $4k or so, so we'll see what we can get done for that. He's got to repaint too, obviously.. more $$, so I have a feeling that part may be a do-it-yourself spray job.

Erik

 

[jonesg]

Re: coal tar epoxy removal

Extreme heat or extreme cold.

One of those weedkiller propane torches will cover a lot of area fast, a secong guy with a shovel to scrape it off, or what they call an "idiot stick" used to remove floor tiles that don't wanna come up. LOcate the fuel tanks first.

Another trick is a block of dry ice, slide it over the tar to freeze and make it brittle, then whack it with the idiot stick. Dry ice makes stubborn floor tiles pop off like magic.