bottom paint removal

[daaw]

I recently purchased a two year old boat. It had been bottom painted by the previous owner. I trailer the boat and it is not left in the water for any length of time. The bottom paint is flaking off and look terrible.<br /><br />I was told that eventually the paint would flake off but don't want to wait forever. Any easy ways to remove it?<br /><br />Also, will pressure washing the boat after use affect the gel coat or anything else? I use it in saltwater and want to use the pressure washer after each use but don't want to harm anything.<br /><br />thanks in advance and great website

 

[Ryoken]

Re: bottom paint removal

couple variables here. depends on how it was prepped. if its peeling it may have a selfetching primer many dealers use. its dark green. its horrible.<br /><br />it may be shiny gel, just painted over. hope for this.<br /><br />it may have been sanded. if you want to go back to shiny gel, this will be most difficult.<br /><br />there are some chemical strippers that work pretty good. i'm sure someone will come along with a link to the enviromentally friendlier ones.. years ago, we would tarp off, spray aircraft stripper thru an underoating gun, let sit, and powerwash off.. pretty effective, tho you still need to sand..<br /><br />there is also media blasting. if the boat is sanded this may be your best option. you'll need to DA sand it and buff it any way. if it has the green primer you'll need to sand that off too if you use stripper.<br /><br />it can be alot of work removing b. paint and restoing gel. but you may get lucky and they just slapped paint on, little stripper and clean up and your done. but i doubt it. most of the time it will need at least "some" sanding. which means it needs to be brought up thru 600 grit at least and buffed. lot of work and sucky...<br /><br />we also have a machine that strips paint, but again, you generally need to run a sander over it...<br /><br />pressure washers are fine to wash off with...