Breaking Down Barriers

Shortly after we hauled out, we knew that we would have do a complete bottom job.  Our barrier coat, which was put on by one of the previous owners in Mexico (10+ years ago), was getting a bit long in the tooth.  Parts of it were peeling and flaking up and it didn't make sense to put bottom paint on top of the failing substrate.  We have been dreading this one for a while now and luckily for me, Frank decided to just step up and take of it on his own.  I was spared and didn't have to do one bit of sanding (Yay me!).  Frank spent a couple of hours a day over the course of a week taking it down to bare fiberglass.  His method proved to be incredibly efficient, and all in all I would say he spent about 30 hours getting it all off.  He worked in a grid-like pattern, using a Makita 5 in. sander, first taking the bottom paint down to the barrier coat with 26 grit sanding discs, and then proceeded to remove the barrier coat with less aggressive 50-grit discs.  It made a HUGE mess and I would say that by the end of the day, there would be about 1/2" of dust on the ground.  A lot of people at the yard have come by and asked us if we had it sandblasted or used a peeler because it looked so professional, and each time I proudly proclaim, "Nope, Frank did it the hard way, it looks pretty good, huh?" We did go through a lot of 5" discs, but what we have spent on doing it on our own was nothing compared to the price of getting it done by a yard.  Had we had it peeled professionally, we would've been looking at $10K or more for the job.  Yikes!

Failed Barrier Coat :(

First off with the Bottom Paint

Then down to the Barrier Coat

Finally down to Bare Fiberglass

Ooh....

It's a dirty job, but someone's got to do it.