When I built my Vacationer 4 years ago, I ran out of epoxy when I was finishing the cockpit. I used polyester resin instead, it really didn't adhere well to the wood. I have some epoxy now, and am refinishing the cockpit this spring. In my quest to remove the old fibreglass. Some of it is coming off the wood easily, and other parts are being somewhat stubborn. Does anyone know of an easy way to remove it, or release it from the wood? I expect to belt sand the stuff off, at this point. Any alternative ideas out there are greatly appreciated.
I'm also sanding and refinshing the the outer hull, above the water line. I used an enamel rust type paint, and have had to touch it up annually. So this year I'm going to use a good marine paint, I'm leaning towards Sikkens, or Interlux, any suggestions?
Greg
Use a heat gun on the old resin Greg. It gets soft when heated and can be lifted easier.
Heat may help, but the tough stuff I just plow through with a 10" disk of 24 grit on a big butted, angle grinder. A belt sander is too neat about removing stock, I don't like having to wait. Scrapping and ripping is effective as you've learned, but some of it just needs to go away. How much area do you have to grind down? A power plane, with blades you never liked so much, is also another fast method of removing frozen snot from a surface. You really have to dislike the planer blades though, as you'll beat them up pretty good. A router can be helpful too, but you have to dislike it's bit equally as much as the planer blades.
Good on you Greg. You are going to love eather of these paints, Sikkens or Interlux. Both company make good marine (BOAT) paint for BOATS. I like the Interlux best but I have used both and they are boath good products. Bud.
I'm happy with the interlux so far. It's got a nice gloss to it and it seems pretty hard. It's only supposed to be good for a couple of years though. If you want something that will really last spend the big bucks on Sterling or Awlgrip. Also it took less that 2 quarts of paint to paint my hull. That was with 3 coats of topcoat sprayed on with a standard cup gun. It was thinned down 10% with Xylene which is their special thinner 216 for spraying. I used their primer before spaying on the color. If you get 2 quarts of primer and 2 of color you should have plenty to get your hull in great looking shape.
Keith
An antique car restorer I know uses paint thinner to dissolve bondo and Polyester resin prior to a complete restoration.