Removing Antifouling

[Nasher]

Hi

Has anyone had any good results with a particular product for removing Antifouling from Gelcoat, my RIB was kept on a mooring by the previous owner and has at least two coats on it. Now I'll be keeping it on a trailer I want the badly chipped antifoul off.

Thanks

Nasher

[Syd]

An expensive but very effective sollution is acetone. Used carefully it will disolve the antifoul layer by layer without damaging the gelcoat.
Syd

[tue]

I believe International do an antifoul remover solution. I have never used it sodon't how efective it is. The last one I did I spent 2 days under it with a paint scrapper . Came out alright in the end though

[Wayne Rogers]

I've used the International remover worked very well.put it on fairly heavy and leave for a few minutes then work it with a stiff brush,it then needs a wipe with white spirit/turps and the hull should look like new.If the hull was good before it went on.

[Nasher]

Thanks guys, I'll get some international remover for next weekend.

I was a bit worried about scraping the hull, as where Ive chipped it off with my finger nail the hull looks in very good nick. It looks like the antifoul was applied without any surface preparation, so should leave a good surface afterwards.

Not looking forward to such a messy job though, I wonder if I could apply the remover then get the trusty pressure washer on it, being careful around the tube to hull join of course.

Nasher

[ashleyd]

I have also had good results using internationals interstrip. Messy job but removed all traces.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Syd

An expensive but very effective sollution is acetone. Used carefully it will disolve the antifoul layer by layer without damaging the gelcoat.
Syd

Acetone is dirt cheap from an industrial supplier - only about £2.50 per 2.5litres if my memory serves me right!

[Stephen-RIB]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Acetone is dirt cheap from an industrial supplier - only about £2.50 per 2.5litres if my memory serves me right!

This is a bloody dangerous way to go about things and I do not recomend it what so ever, you will end up just making a mess and it will take a lot longer that using a proper antifoul remover.

I have used them all over the years, the best one I have come across is called StripIt and is like a gel that you leave on for 24 hours and the blast off with a Jet hose, it did not tottaly come off becuase I was trying to remove to much in one go. A good bit of wet'n'dry got the last off. 80 grit!

Please do not try acetone! I would rather source StripIt at trade and make no profit then have your lungs and skin fester!

Cheers

Stephen

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Stephen-RIB

T

Please do not try acetone! I would rather source StripIt at trade and make no profit then have your lungs and skin fester!

Cheers

Stephen

Ah you wimp - women use the stuff all the time - along with some pretty dodgy chemicals on their hair!

[Stephen-RIB]

Originally Posted by codprawn

Ah you wimp - women use the stuff all the time - along with some pretty dodgy chemicals on their hair!

Having been in the trade sometime now I have managed to distinguish between the small quantity of dilute solvents used on womans nails and the amount need to remove antifoul from a boat! I was offering common sense advice.

[Matt]

This is a job I'll be doing next winter. If I may humbly suggest, interstrip or stripit to talk the bulk off, with acetone on a rag used as a final rub down to remove remaining residue or stubborn spots. Certainly not acetone to remove the bulk of it, I think you'd die before the job was finished.

I have also investigated wet sand, dry sand and soda blasting.
Dry sand is a bit too abrasive.
Wet sand is better, and apparently leaves a surface finish roughly like 240 wet&dry.
Soda is apparently the best and can very gently remove all the antifouling without touching the gel. Makes a bloody big mess though and needs specialised equipment.

Whatever way, it's still a shitty job IMHO.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Stephen-RIB

Having been in the trade sometime now I have managed to distinguish between the small quantity of dilute solvents used on womans nails and the amount need to remove antifoul from a boat! I was offering common sense advice.

Yes and I was JOKING!!!!!

[Nasher]

Thanks for the help everyone.

Having worked in the Gravure print industry for too many years I'm well up on most Solvents, and would not want to lay under my RIB using loads of Acetone to remove the Antifoul, I'd probably pass out first before slowly dying.

I'll get down to the chandlers at Port Solent at the weekend to see what they have, at least I know the names to look out for.

The Gel type that I can pressure wash off afterwards sounds good.

Nasher

[Syd]

Originally Posted by Syd

An expensive but very effective sollution is acetone. Used carefully it will disolve the antifoul layer by layer without damaging the gelcoat.
Syd

Its never done me any harm and its always cost me an arm an a leg from the chandlers.
Syd