Soda Blasting

[ryanwetzel]

Looking for a reference for a contractor that can soda blast my 50' Hatt down. Anyone have any recommendations in the New England area?

[spartonboat1]

I will assume you intend dry soda blasting. Depending on the purpose of the soda blasting, a possible alternative is wet soda blasting. A good quality pressure washer is fitted with a special tip, which in turn is fed by dry soda. The water at high pressure 'sucks in' the soda and the soda does the blasting.

I have a pressure washer, plus the dry soda feed unit, which comprise a wet blast unit and used it to strip my std bottom paint to convert to VC17. Yes, it was a lot of work, so far, because it is about 1/2 done. The blaster would take paint off, but did not seem to remove the barrier coat that had been applied earlier.

Please don't ask why I did not have the VC17 applied after the barrier coat was applied, but truth be known, I was not aware of VC17 at the time. Otherwise that would have made all too much sense!

[ryanwetzel]

Thanks for the suggestion, but this is something I want to leave to the pros.

Unfortunately, everyone I talk to is against doing the topside. Has anyone worked with a paint stripper like Aqua Strip? The stuff ain't cheap, but if it will help me remove the topside paint than all for it.

[yachtsmanbill]

NEVER strip off old finishes unless there is a critical failure. Use it as a faired base for new primer/topcoating. Unless someone took a belt sander to it, sand it clean and go from there. Even then, I would repair the gouges rather than strip it.
I wonder how the experts here feel about that. Hmmm. ws

[rrrestorer]

Absolutely fine to do as long as you can "feather edge" the paint. If you cannot get a perfectly smooth transition frpm one surface to another than you should sand or strip paint off, since the paint didn't adhere to your prior surface and will fail anyway. ZYou should be able to go from one paint surface to another without being able to feel the edge of the paint at all or else the solvent in the paint will travel under the old surface and leave a "ring". And always use a two component sealer to cover the feather edged surface and your good to go.

[Capt K]

PM me. I used to have a biz doing this and have a guy using the same system. It will do what you want with no damage.

K

[sportfish 45]

The problem with blasting the topsides is that blasting removes softer material faster than harder material. The paint on your topsides presumably Imron or Awlgrip is harder that the fiberglass and fairing compounds beneath it. which means it that by the time you remove the paint you will have damaged the surface beneath the paint to the point of requiring and enormous amount of filling and fairing before re painting. Your probably much better off sanding the topsides.

Bottom paint is much softer and blasting works pretty well but even there a lot of filling and fairing may still be needed. Wet or dry blasting with sand works very well and any blasting contractor can do it. Soda blasting is done more for enviromental reasons so if your in a yard that allows blasting with sand consider that instead of soda.

[Werner Schoenknecht]

After much thought I chose a green system called the "Farrow System". It uses heat, low pressure air,water,and a chemical-free and natural volcanic crystal. The equipment os portable so it can be brought to the boat and a skilled operator can remove one layer at a time if it is required to save previous coates of paint. Our boat, a 1986 43MY, had nver been stripped. It turned out great. The total bill was $4600.00 including barrier and antifouling as well as a markup by the marina. They would let the guy on the premises
without it.Check it out on google.
Any questions give me a shout.
Werner-MIRAGE

[spartonboat1]

Here is a youtube link to Farrow System, that gives a broad ranges of uses, in action. One of many such youtube posts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVJpuq_53tI

[Capt K]

Here is a youtube link to Farrow System, that gives a broad ranges of uses, in action. One of many such youtube posts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVJpuq_53tI

Yep, a great system and the marinas love it. I know where there is an almost brand new machine system for sale in New England if any wants to get in. It actually is a good addition to a contractor who does building restoration, fire remediation, and wants to get into the bottom blasting biz as an added extra.

K