Pearson 35 Hull 29

[Sailmachine]

I am waiting on the delivery of a 1968 Pearson 35. Hopefully this forum can be my home for answers during this project. I am trying to come up with a plan of attack for the restoration. My main objective will be to finish the exterior. For this I will need to remove the old paint. In the past sanding has been a very slow way to remove paint. But maybe I am not doing it right. Can anyone tell me what the bast way to remove old paint is? What sander, paper, ect. What about strippers. are they worth the cost and mess?

Pete

[Skipper Dan]

I would not use a stripper on fiberglass. Use an air grinder with a Brillo pad looking paint remover disc. It is very aggressive so be careful. You can also use it on a drill but get a cheep one because it is hard on the bearings, then just throw it away. An angle grinder with 36 grit also works well but again just be careful. There are also fiber wheels that work well also. They look like wire wheels but are fiber instead. Did I mention Be Careful. I strip airplanes for a living and use all of the above other than the angle grinder and 36 grit. The way to make it not daunting is to section off the boat. 3' x 3' at a time. Sand then clean up take a break. Two days and your done. Go all at once and it will take 4 days.

Dan

[Rachel]

Welcome, Pete!

Are you referring to bottom paint or topsides?

For the bottom, you might try a carbide scraper. They work well (at least sometimes) and there is no dust or fumes to speak of. I wouldn't use one on the topsides, myself, for fear of gouges. I would probably sand topsides.

Some folks have used Soystrip on bottom paint (not sure about topsides). At one point in time I called Franmar (who make Soystrip) to ask about whether it was safe for barrier coat, as I had a barrier coated boat that I was thinking of stripping. They said that while the Soystrip was safe for fiberglass, it was not necessarily good for the barrier coat.

Rachel

[Skipper Dan]

And I totally miss read it Rachel, I need better glasses I thought he said interior.

Dan

[tikvah59]

Sorry for the late reply, but I've got two suggestions.

I have used a stripper successfully on the bottom (below the water line). I used one of the AquaStrip products. It was time-intensive but I find sanding ablative paint to be a very frustrating exercise. I'd imagine a stripper would work even better on topside paint, although I've never had to do that.

You also might want to look at having the bottom soda blasted. (Just google soda blasting.) It was a pricey alternative but I would probably save my pennies and go that route if I ever wanted to strip the bottom again.

Good luck, and have lots of patience!

Mark