Removing Antifouling

General chat about boats
Rupert
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Removing Antifouling

Post by Rupert »

As a lake sailor, I don't get to play with antifouling that much, I'm pleased to say! But I currently have a GRP West Wight type Scow in to do some work on, which needs the antifouling taking off the bottom. A scraper has got rid of all the loose stuff (in powder form - my hoover will never be the same again) but I don't fancy dry sanding the rest, it being toxic and all...
So, does anyone have a better method than getting very coarse wet&dry and turing myself into the red zombie monster from hell?
Also, the centreplate has rusted away, with bubbled galvanizing all over the place. Anyone know a company who could make a new one, please?
Rupert
davidh
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Post by davidh »

Rupert,

Does it all have to come off - Can you not just put new anti fouling on top of the old.

Not nice stuff to turn into dust though.........

D
David H
Jools
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Post by Jools »

Rupert A few years ago I used a solvent free gel product call Dilunett Paint and Antifoul remover, on 20 years of antifoul on a small yacht. Had to soak it for many hours, but it did the job. You end up with a sticky mess that you can scrape into a container. The only nasty stuff is in the original antifoul.
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Ed
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Post by Ed »

strangely enough....I have been having to do much the same myself recently.

Not that I have any answer for you though....

I have just been using a bit of heat and a lot of elbow grease and regular grinding of the scraper.

bloody hard work.

Heat doesn't seem to really get at it....but does help.

Nitromors takes the top off, but in my case it was/is so thick, I can't afford to go on like that for too long.

As for the plate......

yes, I do know someone down here who can do it....and it didn't cost the earth, at least in comparison to quotes I had from boat-people.

But the flip-side was that I was not terribly happy with it. the galvanising was good, but the accuracy of the cut plate was not great. Mind you, I suspect that was due to the worker who did it rather than a general thing. It wouldn't put me off going again, but I would make far more of a fuss about the need for accuracy to 1/4 inch rather than 1inch.

Give me a ring if you want details and I will try and find them

cheers

eib
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roger
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Post by roger »

ah the west wight scow. First boat I ever sailed... what lovely memories :)
Rupert
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Post by Rupert »

Thank you all. Luckily, antifouling isn't going back on, just yacht paint. Will this stick to well sanded antifoul?
Rupert
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jpa_wfsc
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Post by jpa_wfsc »

There is a good fabrications company in Cheltenham who I know will do a neat job of any work asked of them - might be worth giving them a try. I never asked them to do any boat-y stuff, but have used them for work related fabrications.

http://www.staceyates.co.uk/

01452 713772 and ask for Peter Mockerige.
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chris
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Post by chris »

There are enginering firms that will laser cut things quite reasonably. they can scan a drawing or work direct from computer data. thers's a place in frome but I bet there are many such places. Ask a local trailer firm about galvanising.
andrew
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Post by andrew »

Rupert
There was a company who made a yellow handled scraper a bit like the Sandvik scraper which could be attached to a vacuum cleaner.
I never used one but I hear they worked well.
The dust is very bad to inhale and I would be very reluctant to heat it up.
Rupert
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Post by Rupert »

40 grit, elbow grease and a dust mask did it in the end...
Rupert
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jpa_wfsc
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Post by jpa_wfsc »

Rupert wrote:40 grit, elbow grease and a dust mask did it in the end...
:twisted: ..so now go wash off in the lake at WSC and bingo! no more weed problems for 2008!! :twisted:



john./ :twisted:
Rupert
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Post by Rupert »

It did wonders for clearing the shower drain of pond weed, too...
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Michael Brigg
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Post by Michael Brigg »

Have a look at this website/product. I just typed "antifouling stripper" into Google and found all sorts of stuff tucked in amongst the strippogram ads!

http://www.biowash.com/products/product.php?pid=34

"RemovALL 610 is a solvent type I think and I have no experience of it but most of the solvent type strippers will be similar. Just make sure it is compatible with fibreglass gel coat else youll be looking for another boat.

What I have used before is a chemical gel which essentially contains Sodium Hydroxide. this is quite effective but BE CAREFUL!!! If you get this stuff in your eyes it can blind you. an alkali burn is very painful and very damaging. Follow the instructions to the letter especially about protective clothing.

I found it rather slow and needs repeated applications an lots of water to rinnse of afterwards.

Michael
[/u]
Michael Brigg
alan williams
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Post by alan williams »

Hi Rupert
On the Yacht that I used to race We found the best way of stripping antfouling is a hidh pressure jet washer, how ever you need to be very careful as with a really powerful one you can take off the gelcoat.
Cheers Al
Michael Brigg
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Post by Michael Brigg »

I used a jet washer on my Pilot Dory but it couln't shift the antifouling on it's own other than the oldest flakiest bits. These came of all over my front lawn and it took 6months for the grass to recover! Even that was only after I litterally hoovered up every last flake. My gardener wasnt happy.... keep of the grass man. Great if you want to slow down weeds on your drive though.
Michael Brigg
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