Soda Blasting ant-foul

[scrotty]

Hey All, Thought it might be useful to post a quick vid of my boat being Soda Blasted. There are always heaps of questions when this topic is posted. I found the process also removed some Gel Coat so I had the hull flow coated and it came up like new.

Cheers

http://youtu.be/_Szn3dV_Q7A

[wirlybird]

Just out of interest How much for the flow coat


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[fisho64]

thats a bummer as it wouldnt have been cheap to recoat it.
Did you have a go at getting it off any other ways?

[stockhorse]

I have been biting my tongue to not answer this post but I just can't help myself.

In the video it is being wet blasted (does mean a lot less dust). Water makes soda "clump" this is like using an 80 grit sandpaper instead of a 240grit,(much harsher on the blasted surface). For the pressure being used the nozzle is way to close to the work. You will notice the surface doesn't go from black to greyish then to white but from black to white. This means the antifoul is not being "feathered" off but aggressively being blasted off. This will almost always damage the underlying surface.The nozzle should never be at 90 degrees to the surface as this does not allow the soda to "bounce" off the surface.
If you ever get soda blasting done, do not get get a job quote, get an hourly rate quote with approximate hours.
A job quote means they will go as fast as they can to get the money in the least possible time.An hourly quote means they will go slower because more hours equals more money, but, you should get the job done right at less cost in the long run.


P.S. never let the guy in the clip loose with a sand blaster

[scrotty]

Hey I'm no expert. I paid the guy who does it for a living to do the job. I suppose that's the trouble when posting on any site. There are always the experts out there who know more than anybody else. Couldn't help myself!

[fisho64]

I can see what stockhorse is referring to, having cleaned my own antifoul of by hand.
Its pretty much what I was warned of also.
It took me over a week of solid work but didnt need any recoating and cost maybe $250 in materials.
MY biggest mistake though was trying with a very powerful pressure cleaner first which lifted gelcoat on the chine and I stopped him straight away.
Karcher, oven cleaner and scotchbrite got thru it.
I'd hazard a guess Scrotty that you didnt get much change from $3K??
Saying that if I was going to do it myself for someone else Id probably charge about that!

[brett62]

Hey scrotty it looks great with the crap off and if you are happy with what you got that's all that matters. I am is the process of removing the crap off my boat at present and its a real prick of a job doing by hand. Got some advice from fisho64 and the wife is getting the oven cleaner for when I return home. It would have been nice just to drop it around to someone and tell them just to get it off and be done with it. Is flow coat ok to use under water? reason I ask is that I have been told to use gelcoat only under water. I have to do a few patches on the hull under the water and just wondering what I should use.

Hey fisho64, no one could pay me enough to remove the crap. LOL

[stockhorse]

Hey I'm no expert. I paid the guy who does it for a living to do the job. I suppose that's the trouble when posting on any site. There are always the experts out there who know more than anybody else. Couldn't help myself!


Mate I wasn't having a dig at you at all, sorry if you think I was.

I was reluctant to post because I didn't want to be seen as a smart rrrs.but decided to so some other person doesn't end up spending more money than they have to due to poor workmanship. Soda blasting isn't rocket science but it is a little like spray painting,anybody can do it just some do it well and others not so well. I was hoping that by pointing out some other than best practices that anybody contemplating getting soda blasting done could watch some work being done and decide if that was the person they wanted to do their work.
I apologise wholeheartedly if I offended you at all.

[fisho64]

Hey fisho64, no one could pay me enough to remove the crap. LOL

certainly is a shit job however you soon learn the best times and it gets quicker as you get organised
Over here where I live a soda blaster and /or sprayer wouldnt even fart for under a grand-but honestly, if soda blasting get someone who knows what they are doing.
As Stock said, you should see it coming off layer by layer and might save a couple of G's on a respray
End of the day it depends if you have either money or time!