60 ft on the Chesapeake - It Begins !

[DSDman]

Tyvek suits are awesome! No itching. Although wherever the grinder hits the suit the grinder wins. Yet another good thing for duct tape! I grind.....

[minaret]

Originally Posted by DSDman

What? real men don't wear paper suits, We just suffer....and itch.

Lol! What happened to "real men don't wear paper suits"? I'm glad you have seen the light, now you just need a fullface. Heres the cheap model, $85 bucks on Amazon. Stick with 3M, the off brands suck. This is what we give new guys were not sure we're keeping.


Amazon.com: 6000 Series Full Face Respirator Large Respirator: Home Improvement


This is what I use. I've had many and prefer this to much more expensive models. Really good to have for a big project.



Amazon.com: 3M 7800 Full-Face Respirator, Small: Home Improvement



You are your most important tool, you have to take care of yourself. Keep grinding without proper protection and you'll get sick or end up in the hospital with a glass sliver in your eye. Trust me on that. 85 bucks is dirt cheap for the added safety and comfort.

[shamrock]

Have you tried a vacuum sander? I just did my whole bottom with virtually no dust. I used the Bosch 6 in random orbital attached to a wet/dry vaccum. It has a "grinder" setting which spins the disk and can remove some serious material.

If you use a random orbital, you will save a ton of time on fairing.

Grinders can do more harm than good.

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by DSDman

Tyvek suits are awesome! No itching. Although wherever the grinder hits the suit the grinder wins. Yet another good thing for duct tape! I grind.....

I thought you were looking very relaxed and comfortable for someone who had been grinding all day!

[DSDman]

I don't know if a sander of any type will get through this stuff. I'm using dewalt 4.5 inch grinders and it takes a while to get through all the non skid, very thick gel coat and then down to the first layer of fiberglass. That is what has failed, that first layer bond. once I grind that out it's solid fiberglass underneath. My breaks are to unclog the shop vac. I just put the house next to where I'm grinding and it gets a lot of it. But there are still mountains of it afterward. The boss lady has called a halt for today....I think I have to go buy clothes for the kids or something, what a huge waste of boat money!

[minaret]

Originally Posted by DSDman

I don't know if a sander of any type will get through this stuff. I'm using dewalt 4.5 inch grinders and it takes a while to get through all the non skid, very thick gel coat and then down to the first layer of fiberglass. That is what has failed, that first layer bond. once I grind that out it's solid fiberglass underneath. My breaks are to unclog the shop vac. I just put the house next to where I'm grinding and it gets a lot of it. But there are still mountains of it afterward. The boss lady has called a halt for today....I think I have to go buy clothes for the kids or something, what a huge waste of boat money!

LOL, seems you've got you're priorities right! Are you grinding with 16 grit? Have you tried a 7" grinder yet? I do the majority of large areas with a 7", edges with a 5", and corners with a Roloc setup. 7" grinds much faster than a 5", and leaves a fairer surface as well. You can probably rent one for a couple of days if you don't want to buy. Sanding for glass prep with a vacuum sander would be a joke.


Amazon.com: Milwaukee 6088-20 7-Inch Grinder: Home Improvement

[DSDman]

no work today, I did manage to take my sails to the loft down in annapolis. Vic has a nice set of sails and before I decide to invest in them I guess I should have my original sails inspected and cleaned by a pro so I can make some educated decisions.

[DSDman]

I'm armed for bear this weekend. Just got a hitachi 15 amp grinder, 7 inch with 16 and 24 grit pads. plus I found an old training chem warfare mask with a full face shield, so I should be fully covered and protected. No itchy dreams afterward.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by DSDman

I'm armed for bear this weekend. Just got a hitachi 15 amp grinder, 7 inch with 16 and 24 grit pads. plus I found an old training chem warfare mask with a full face shield, so I should be fully covered and protected. No itchy dreams afterward.

Nice, good move. Careful with the 7", stay away from edges and corners at first and watch out for kickbacks. Is that the Israeli surplus mask that's cheap on amazon? Those fog up bad. Way better than nothing though. Good luck and happy grinding!

[DSDman]

Not israeli, good old US issue. Worked great, ground all day...now soaking shoulder, That 15 amps and 8500 RPM really get er done. Its a workout to hang on. Maybe another day to get the majority knocked out. Then the glassing can begin. I wish I had a team like you..this would've been done! I'm solo, and so sore. Builds character I guess.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by DSDman

Not israeli, good old US issue. Worked great, ground all day...now soaking shoulder, That 15 amps and 8500 RPM really get er done. Its a workout to hang on. Maybe another day to get the majority knocked out. Then the glassing can begin. I wish I had a team like you..this would've been done! I'm solo, and so sore. Builds character I guess.

Very good, sounds like you're really making progress now. Hope you didn't damage anything, it requires caution till you learn to feather the trigger. Variable speed helps too. Glad you got a fullface, I've made many trips to the hospital for the blue dye in my eye. It sucks. Doctors hate it, because while metal shards are easy to pick out, a glass sliver is transparent. I've had two shoulder surgeries, try running one over head on a boat bottom all day. Decks are relatively easy, gravity works with you instead of against. That said, it's undeniably hard work. Really hard. But the payoff will be worth it! I ground my decks alone too. Sometimes it's better that way. Decide on a laminate schedule yet? Remember, "no pain, no gain"!

[DSDman]

One question, Mineret, what kind oh head do you use and what kind of sanding disk and where do you get them? I can only find the standard disk with the hole in the middle in 16 and 24 grit. For the layup, since I'm mostly removing a lot of paint and a thick layer of gel coat and only a thin layer of fiberglass I think I'm just going to put back two or three layers of 1.5 oz mat. Then gel then paint. Since nothing I'm taking away is structural I just need a good water tight smooth surface for all the cosmetic stuff to stick too. What do you think?

[minaret]

I usually use these.

Amazon.com: Milwaukee 49-36-3800 Spiral Backing Pad 7-Inch: Home Improvement


Sometimes if I'm grinding something fairly flat and I want a stiffer backing disc I put two or even three discs on instead of one. This requires a special deeper locking nut. Grinds flatter that way. Spiral backers help things stay cooler. If you grind hard for enough straight hours the grinder will get too hot to touch without one. Sometimes I'll tie rags around the body so it stops burning my hand, or use two alternately. I've burned up a lot of grinders. You can't just stop grinding.


You probably could get away with using just matt, but there are several issues to consider there. You mentioned removing a 1/4"? I'm guessing that's probably about double the actual amount removed, and some of that thickness was gel and will be made up by your new coatings and non skid. If that's the case then three or four matts is fine, it'll give you the thickness you need. The problem with that is that if you stack up a bunch of matts it's harder to roll out fair than the equivalent thickness of a woven product, because the matt just turns to goo after the binder dissolves. It's doable, but you need to move fast and it helps to use an extra long air roller, for less fairing. If you really removed a 1/4" of material, then you will need a lot more glass than that to make it back up, and that would be a PITA with just matt.

[DSDman]

Thanks for that. Well by my calculation I have groung off 338 sq ft of gel coat and fiberglass! All done with the mass removal, now to prep and start fiberglassing. That will have to wait a couple of weeks, gotta work next weekend. I was thinking that it would be nice to add the 1/4 inch to the deck but after looking at it and talking with a buddy of mine that does fiberglass work he said it just wouldn't be worth it and it would cost more in time and effort with no real benefit. SO I'll just replace the one layer I ground off and build up a few low places and maybe one more layer just for kicks.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by DSDman

Thanks for that. Well by my calculation I have groung off 338 sq ft of gel coat and fiberglass! All done with the mass removal, now to prep and start fiberglassing. That will have to wait a couple of weeks, gotta work next weekend. I was thinking that it would be nice to add the 1/4 inch to the deck but after looking at it and talking with a buddy of mine that does fiberglass work he said it just wouldn't be worth it and it would cost more in time and effort with no real benefit. SO I'll just replace the one layer I ground off and build up a few low places and maybe one more layer just for kicks.

Sounds about right. Sure will be a whole lot easier to do just matt. If you buy a full roll for the job, which might be cheapest, get a 54" roll instead of a 36" roll. There'll be less laps that way. Then if you're going athwart ships off the roll you cut 3" off the width of the first second layer, then everything after that can be done straight off the roll at 54" widths with a 3" overlap built in. So you butt every layer, but not in the same place. Makes fairing much easier, and also makes glassing short handed much easier too. Sometimes 36" works better though, depends on the boat. Hope I explained that well enough...


Congrats on finishing your grind!