Spencer 42: First bottom job.

[Renegde_Sailor]

I am doing my first bottom job on my 1966 Spencer 42'





She was definitely due, the last time she was painted was 2014 with Pettit Trinidad SR, had a good bit of growth, I probably should have done her last year.






The bottom is in pretty good shape other than the fact that someone painted some copper coat on it that is between 1/32" and 1/16" of an inch thick!






I am removing all the old paint because of the thickness, and what I thought were blisters turned out to be places the adhesion of the cooper coat simply failed and created a bubble, the laminate underneath was dry.





The old copper paint is really hard on the sanding discs, I have been going through about 5 6" discs every 3 square feet. I am using 40 grit paper and it is gumming them up, they will stop sanding all together.

The Bosch sander I bought works really well, and the Bosch HEPA vac seems to do very well, there is very little dust to sweep up when I am done.


At the current rate I am going it is probably going to take about 266 hours to fully strip the bottom because it is taking about 2 hours to strip 3 square feet.

It feels a bit slow to me.

The plan is to get her stripped, move a couple of through hulls, then install a new depth sounder and knot wheel, then paint her with a epoxy barrier coat, then probably with the Trinidad SR again although I have been thinking about going with the Black Widow.



Really looking forward to having her back in the water!

[SV Siren]

It's going to take a while, maybe a rougher grit.

This is why I hired a soda blaster crew. They did my entire hull once they set up, in one day. I paid $1250 cash, for a 50' hull. A pretty good deal. They were slow at the time, and needed the work.

[Renegde_Sailor]

Originally Posted by SV Siren

It's going to take a while, maybe a rougher grit.

This is why I hired a soda blaster crew. They did my entire hull once they set up, in one day. I paid $1250 cash, for a 50' hull. A pretty good deal. They were slow at the time, and needed the work.

I wish I could go that route but they do not allow blasting at this yard, so it is the ole grind grind grind!

[Orion Jim]

Try Festool Granat Net or Mirka Abranet.....you will be pleasantly surprised.

[Renegde_Sailor]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

Try Festool Granat Net or Mirka Abranet.....you will be pleasantly surprised.

I will check those out. Are they better for dust collection?

[SV Siren]

I have used the Mirka Abranet...I love that stuff. It works extremely well for dust collection. I am glad you mentioned it Orion Jim, I totally forgot to.

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by Renegde_Sailor

I will check those out. Are they better for dust collection?

Far better...no clogging means your sanding disks last longer. A friend used to use Mirka Abranet exclusively but has now found the Granat Net product to be longer lasting.....it took me two years to convince him

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by SV Siren

I have used the Mirka Abranet...I love that stuff. It works extremely well for dust collection. I am glad you mentioned it Orion Jim, I totally forgot to.

The Abranet works well....the Granat Net is well worth the cost in my opinion. Either one is a big improvement over sanding disks. With a good dust extraction system dust is negligible. Sanding bottom paint is almost a pleasure.

[Renegde_Sailor]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

Far better...no clogging means your sanding disks last longer. A friend used to use Mirka Abranet exclusively but has now found the Granat Net product to be longer lasting.....it took me two years to convince him

I am going to order some in and see how they do, right now the dust collection is definitely lacking, I have had a lot to sweep up every day, so that will be nice if it can better control the dust.

[stormalong]

I don't think you need to remove the coppercoat, just roughen it up a bit. You can call Petit and ask them. The coppercoat will make a nice barrier coat.

BTW, I would suggest that you use Trinidad SR red. it contains a lot more active ingredients than the other colors.

[Renegde_Sailor]

Originally Posted by stormalong

I don't think you need to remove the coppercoat, just roughen it up a bit. You can call Petit and ask them. The coppercoat will make a nice barrier coat.

BTW, I would suggest that you use Trinidad SR red. it contains a lot more active ingredients than the other colors.

I have to remove it because it has adhesion problems, it is peeling off the hull in places. So off it all comes.