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I had the antifoul taken off back to the gelcoat today with a wet sand blasting operation that is not as harsh as dry sand blasting. It also is dust free and the product is dropped neatly under the hull for disposal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ccHLC3m ... e=youtu.be

all clean

Nice job, what did they charge to do it??

I see the rudder was taken off and done seperately. Is that the usual way of doing it? I'll be antifouling my new TH this year so am interested in how folks do theirs.

Troppo


No leave it on the boat !


This how I do mine
I've always wet and dried with a 220 grit paper(black in colour) with a hose on dribble that way you will never get a build-up of antifouling .Then wipe down with a turps damp rag ,let dry and antifoul .Some like to undercoat ,I never have in 18 years . Mask off ,use a cheap disposable paint tray and roller kit from Bunnings and 4 litres should do 2 x coats
Withworths have Mircon Extra antifouling for $219.90 x 4 litres And that's a good antifoul .
Helpful hint : to antifoul up drain holes a skinfittings wrap a piece of rag around a stick wet with antifoul and shove it up the hole and give it a swirl .

cheers Bear

Troppo,
only took the rudder of because I'm epoxying the hull this time and it's hard to get behind it.

Awesome, I'll leave the rudder on. And thank you Bear for those tips. The antifoul on Windchaser is reasonably good, a couple of spots with some barnacles, but I want to get to it before it gets real bad. Antifouling will be another new experience for me. That wet sand blasting that Rob got done certainly looks the go if ya need to take it right back.

That's the hard way Bear.
Louis, all you need to do is use an ablating antifoul. Altex, ABC 3 etc. That is one that wears away like soap. There is a constant active surface as you use the boat or scrub it as necessary.

As soon as the boat comes up out of the water just gernie it off. If there are barnacles just get a heavy paint scraper and chop them off. THe gurnie gets rid of all the paint so you're backto the original surface. Wait for it to dry and mask off with 50mm wide masking tape around the waterline. and go for it.
If you have extra paint, use it up on the areas where you get turbulence, ie the wind n water line, leading and trailing edges or edges where you get a sharp edge. There is no build up, messy sanding and you're not getting covered in toxic paint.
I always put two generous coats on. The old antifoul sometimes peels off, just flick it out of the roller and keep going. This is a recommendation from someone who actually slips their boat yearly.
Don't let it go too long. Once you get barnacles you can get gelcoat damage. But that won't worry a Top Hat.
Ask around locally to see what works best as different areas of the same bay have different antifouls that work. You may even find that the antifoul works on one side of your boat and not on the other.

Look along the hull for blisters while the hull is wet and don't be worried if you get some.

It is one of the easiest jobs to do in boating. If you stuff it up only the one that got away will see your mistakes.

What Rob is doing is good protection for the future.

Hey Rob,
Seems like there is a lot of work going on Sundowner, epoxy coating, self steering, re rigging, etc.

Is there a master plan here or something???

you're on to me Greg, I plan to turn left at Wilsons Prom next March/April and keep going until its warm enough to spend winter in comfort. Hopefully the whitsundays if all goes well. Then if I'm comfortable on board I'll keep on doing it.