All the paint is gone!
For the last few weeks I was mainly working under my boat, removing the layers of old paints from her bottom.
To remove the very first layers (like 20 of them) of ablative antifouling I used an old trick of dissolving NaOH in wallpaper glue. Then I “painted” the bottom with this cream-like mixture and went away for a coffee brake.
After 40 minutes I came back, put back protective clothing (overall, thick rubber gloves, face mask) and removed the whole snoot with high pressure water.
The most messy part was then to gather all the plastic tarp lying on the ground - to collect toxic paint - and taking it for disposal. It pays to have a proper car for that, pickup in my case.
Then I could start mechanically removing the next layers of primers and what not, until I reached clean gelcoat - and in some cases directly laminate.
I was forcing myself to wear dust mask and protective clothing all the time.
Hot and sweaty, even thou outside it was well below zero.
When I looked onto the deck today I thanked myself for keeping the mask on my face at all times - a big part of this dust which is lying on the deck could have been in my lungs!
