Gel Coat Renewal and Bottom Paint Removal

[CharlestonMav]

I have a 18' 89 MA and when It had a layer of bottom paint on it when I bought it. Also the gel coat is good for an 89, but I want to bring it back to life. Has anyone removed bottom paint themselves or redone their gel coat? I know both are not easy tasks, but I would love to have a summer project with my father while not spending a couple grand to have it done.

[whichwaysup]

Hey Charleston -

I havne't had to deal w/ bottom paint, but for the gelcoat, you'd be amazed at what you can do with it. My '87 was oxidized, scratched up, and in pretty rough shape. I did a little googling and found some you tube vids showing how to sand out scratches and then polish the gel coat back to new. My MA shines beautifully. Not perfect, there are some gouges I will have to add gel coat to, but I was amazed at what I could do with zero experience.

The way to do it is like eating an elephant - one bite at a time. I used painters tape and would tape off 3' sections, wet sanding out the scratches with 400/600/800/1000/1500/2000 sand paper (in that order). If the scratch isn't that deep, you can start with 600 or 800. After the 2000 grit, I used a polishing compound, then some 3M finishing compound.

it took me two weeks of doing 45 minute sessions every morning before work. I finished her off with shark hide wax, which has done an amazing job keeping the brown gunk here off the white hull.

I can send some pics if you'd like. But give it a shot yourself before you take it in.

[trf97]

I would go and look on THT and see how people over there have removed bottom paint. There are various methods of soda blasting that people have used but I have no idea how to do that. You might be able to just use a sander depending on how worn down it is.

[FLDXT]

Soda blasting is the most common and fastest, there are some chemical means to remove as well.

[had]

Done correctly you will have a base layer of primer sometimes 2. Done like the person or biz that did mine it'll pretty much wipe off with any kind of stripping agent.......

[hurricane]

Guessing its black bottom paint. I would have it soda blasted and repaint with white bottom paint. They have some real nice bottom paints now. I don't know that the gel coat will shine good again. But I have no real experience with bottom paint.

[hawg]

I used a chemical stripper (Soy Strip) to remove the bottom paint from a 23 Mako. Be aware that some chemical strippers will cut through your gel-coat after they soften the bottom paint. It took me 4 days and 2 gallons of stripper. It was very uncom-

fortable working underneath the hull. You might want to check a small area beneath the existing bottom paint. If properly applied, the original gel-coat was most likely sanded with an aggressive grit which will make "bringing it back to life"very difficult. In my case, whoever applied the bottom paint just laid it on top of the unsanded gel-coat, so I lucked out. Good luck.

[polliwog]

I know this goes against you not wanting to spend a lot of money,but I would have someone good get the hull clean and use Awlgrip on the hull. It will be like a new hull. The area of bottom paint will be sanded pretty heavily and very tough to make it look great. Awl grip can also be painted with brush by you if you want it to go that route. I had a larger boat done by a pro that looks better than new and the finish is 5yrs old.

[fin-addict]

100% agree. if the bottom was prepped correctly you will not get it to shine again. been there, done it by a prof. yard. fin

[CRC]

I cheated and let shallow water customs remove my bottom paint, took care of any blemishes and paint with imron. Job was / is flawless.

[fishmanjj]

Any pics ?

[FLDXT]

I have/had Petite Vivid on the bottom of my MA. Used a chemical stripper for a while and it removed the BP but it was a job. I'm just letting it wear off now, every wash I scrub it down and it starts to come off. It's a white BP so to be hones you can't even see it until you are up close.