have only had direct experience with non-painted bottoms as my GW is rack stored 12 months of the year. So, am toying with the idea of going up in size and there are several interesting used boat deals - some with bottom paint. Now I don't need bottom paint, don't like the look, and don;t want the expense, time etc to keep maintaining it - so before i seriously consider used with bottom paint was wondering whats the effect of removing the paint? whats the condition of the stripped bottom, can you (do you have to) re-seal it or clear coat it etc? ideally i'd like it to look like it was never painted - is that even possible? if so, through what process etc, thanks
removing bottom paint question
- Thread starter GWC3
- Start date
Depending on the condition of the hull before it was painted and the amount of prep work done, it is often difficult to return the bottom to it's original condition without a lot of work. First you would need to get the bottom soda blasted by a good balster and see what the hull looks like. If there is sufficient gel coat, you might be able to compound and polish. If only small spots are bad, you could get the gel coat replaced in those areas. I have no experience with gell coating an entire hull but I can't imamine that process being cheap.GWC3 said:
Hookup1
GreatGrady Captain
- Joined
- Oct 16, 2007
- Messages
- 3,030
- Reaction score
- 852
- Points
- 113
- Age
- 70
- Location
- Cape May, NJ
- Model
- Islander
Bottom Paint
Buy one without paint. Once its painted the effort to restore it to original gelkote is prohibitivly expensive.
Buy one without paint. Once its painted the effort to restore it to original gelkote is prohibitivly expensive.
yea, i pretty much sensed it would be a lot of work and still may not come out really nice. so, the search for no bottom paint will continue, thanks all
I stripped my 24 Offshore using a product called Soy Strip. It was quite alot of work but I guess it depends on how bad you want it off. When I was done the only way you could tell it had ever been painted was by some paint (small amount) still around the bolts holding the engine bracket on.
google up SOY STRIP and you'll find it.
google up SOY STRIP and you'll find it.
It's very easy to scrap and gouge the gelcoat when preping the boat for seasonal re-bottom painting. So if the gelcoat was just etched primed for the first ever application of bottom paint, that's one thing, but after years of repainting by marina so called professionals with putty knifes on ends of broom stick handles, all bets are off.
petros i am fairly new to owning a grady white and my boat currently does not have many rod holders. is you setup behind the bimini factory from gw or a aftermarket setup you purchased and if so where could i go about finding something similar? thanks in advance!