repainting a boat

[HELLICONIA54]

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/oo351/HELLICONIA54/SAILING/InLorneVic.jpgI'm dissatisfied with the paintjob on the boat i just bought (hartley ts16) the hull is fine but the deck and cockpit area leaves alot to be desired.Has anyone had experience in stripping back the paint? and if so,,,Which method did you use and why? I'm looking at sanding/stripping attachments for drills anglegrinders,etc and/or paint stripper.

[b.o.a.t.]

Parts of the deck & cockpit of mine were pretty stuffed.
Especially around the base of the cabin, the foredeck & cockpit floor.
I used heat gun & scrapers to get back to bare wood where the paint was
clearly cracked through & I wanted to check the wood under it. Some of it
was about 10 coats thick.
I just keyed the good bits with an ROS & painted over.
Haven't digitised any pics of before/after yet. slowly working thru the albums..
Looks like you have a good unit there.
AJ

[HELLICONIA54]

Its been checked out by ts16 asociation.the hull's fine but ,,,yeah,the cockpit and cabin have way too much paint and its a very sloppy job,it needs new perspex in windows too.I got cracks around base of cabin too.
I hadn't thought of heat guns etc.

[b.o.a.t.]

Beware - Epoxy softens as fast as, or faster than, paint under a heat gun...
Wasn't any in my TS, but I had to re-seal Teal's bottom after stripping it.
Found these two pics of the first time we took ours out in '99.
Put the storm jib up as it had been a while since I'd sailed, and we all had small
kids..

[HELLICONIA54]

. I'm only repainting the deck top and cabin.Hope there's no epoxy,lol Heat gun may end up being my best bet. That's a nice looking boat there.

[PAR]

Stripping back to bare wood is a lot more work then is usually necessary. Most of the time, even the worst paint job can be "fixed" with careful prep and new paint. In other words, be careful what you wish for.

Heat guns can do a lot of damage, particularity to sealants and adhesives. Not only do you have to seal, prep, prime and paint, but you also have to caulk and repair delamination or other damage.

Take an orbital sander to the areas you have issue with and see if it knocks down. 95% of the time all you need to do is knock the bad paint off, get down to well attached and now freshly smoothed paint, then repaint, which is a hell of a sight easier then stripping back to raw wood and having to start from scratch.

[HELLICONIA54]

I guess my concern was having ,possibly lead paint dust everywhere,so a chemical or heat method seemed best.I am open to any suggestion.and you have given me a lot to think about,,,thank you for that.

[PAR]

Chemical strippers work better then heat guns. Of course these have their own issues, but I've long ago given up the heat gun. If sanding and concerned about lead, wear a particulate filter at least or a respirator.