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  #1  
Old March 6th, 2009, 09:40 AM
alumi numb alumi numb is offline
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Default sand blasting aluminum hull?

must be some metallurgical type out there that can help.
pos or neg on doing this?
seems like it might actually relieve stresses and aid sealing around the rivits.
not course grain but medium to fine.
then again glass beading "rounded media" might shot peen the surface wouldn't it?
thanks.
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Old March 6th, 2009, 10:20 AM
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Bond-o Bond-o is offline
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Default Re: sand blasting aluminum hull?

Ayuh,...

1 Question,........ Why,..??
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Old March 6th, 2009, 10:58 AM
BlazinKuztumz BlazinKuztumz is offline
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Default Re: sand blasting aluminum hull?

Your best bet to clean it up without much distortion, heat build up, or scarring would be to have it soda blasted.
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Old March 6th, 2009, 06:20 PM
TheWoodCrafter TheWoodCrafter is offline
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Default Re: sand blasting aluminum hull?

I would not use sand on aluminum, glass beads maybe, soda for sure.
Or plastic media.
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Old March 6th, 2009, 07:51 PM
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Default Re: sand blasting aluminum hull?

What size boat and what condition ?
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Old March 7th, 2009, 09:56 AM
gcboat gcboat is offline
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Default Re: sand blasting aluminum hull?

Quote:
Originally Posted by BlazinKuztumz View Post
Your best bet to clean it up without much distortion, heat build up, or scarring would be to have it soda blasted.
100 % right on the money !!!!!!
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Old March 7th, 2009, 07:08 PM
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5150abf 5150abf is offline
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Default Re: sand blasting aluminum hull?

I'm not following, you want to sandblast the boat to releave stress on the rivets?

If that is your goal I don't see how that could possibly make the rivets seal better and they are designed to take stress, thats why there are so many.

Generally sand or media blasting is used to remove a paint finish or rust to get it ready for paint.

I have heard of using shot to releave stress in tanks but only after they were heat treated.
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Old March 7th, 2009, 11:03 PM
reelfishin reelfishin is offline
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Default Re: sand blasting aluminum hull?

I would think that sandblasting an aluminum hull would be a disaster.
I'd expect warping, damaged surfaces, and total loss of anodized coating or any other corrosion inhibiting coatings it was built with.
If it needs paint, then chemical strip it or maybe soda blasting but I've even seen thin aluminum damaged simply from the air pressure used.

I had one aluminum boat in which a former owner had sanded and polished it to a chrome like finish. While it looked great at first, the resulting corrosion was a mess to deal with. I ended up resanding it, priming it with a self etching zinc chromate primer and shooting it with an epoxy finish.
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Old March 8th, 2009, 09:59 AM
alumi numb alumi numb is offline
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Default Re: sand blasting aluminum hull?

tried it on a copper sheet about same thickness and it warped real bad.
so yes looks like a bad idea.
1970 22' starcraft islander that i'm finishing up.
could stand painting but not that bad.
have replaced all wood including floor, oak walls, door, side panels and engine cover.
plus a flipdown oak tray and cup holder on passenger side of cabin wall.
have 2 sets of bows and am getting new material sewn up.
seems like a lot of people have never seen that cabin design and seem to really like it, i do.
the oak looks great.
thanks.
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Old March 10th, 2009, 03:01 AM
reelfishin reelfishin is offline
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Default Re: sand blasting aluminum hull?

Quote:
Originally Posted by alumi numb View Post
tried it on a copper sheet about same thickness and it warped real bad.
so yes looks like a bad idea.
1970 22' starcraft islander that i'm finishing up.
could stand painting but not that bad.
have replaced all wood including floor, oak walls, door, side panels and engine cover.
plus a flipdown oak tray and cup holder on passenger side of cabin wall.
have 2 sets of bows and am getting new material sewn up.
seems like a lot of people have never seen that cabin design and seem to really like it, i do.
the oak looks great.
thanks.
I'm a big fan of the early Starcraft hulls, I own 5 at the present time.
I just passed on a rather rough Islander nearby, but mostly since I didn't want to deal with an I/O drive. The boat needed everything, only the hull itself was good.
Some of those early cabins were really nice, they kept it simple, light and very functional. Even the cabin in my 18' Starchief is well done. I've been knocking around the idea of reworking it just a bit to gain some more underseat storage though.

I had a buddy that borrowed my largest pressure blast outfit to clean and repaint his porch railings, what I didn't realize at the time was that he figured that since it was there and all set up, he'd use it to clean two fenders on his 1965 Chevy truck, the result was a completely ruined pair of fenders, grille and hood. He had no idea how bad 160 psi was for sheet metal, even steel. (That blaster would have cut right through it if it were aluminum).
I saw a Corvette once that someone thought that sandblasting would be a shortcut to remove several layers of paint, the result looked like a bad fur coat with lots of holes.

If the paint is good, or at least not peeling, then I'd at best just scuff the paint, prime any bare metal with self etching primer, and epoxy paint the hull. If not, maybe just touch up what's there?

The original paint they used was pretty durable, it's pretty hard to remove.
My Starchief was originally dark burgundy in color, so I assume that was why it was stripped and repainted. I get the impression that they didn't use the right primer since it now looks like alligator skin. The best part is that it comes off easily leaving clean, sanded aluminum underneath. I will be priming it and repainting it with white epoxy either this year or next. I'll probably park it for this year and start work on it, a new deck, some new paint and a new motor are in line for it. I have everything but the wood for the deck so far, all I need is the time and to get some other projects out of my way first.
On mine, simply using a plastic scraper and about 100psi of air from a blow gun strips of the old paint, it will take a few days of work but it will come off clean. The hard part will be redoing the exterior of the cabin in vinyl, and to fill in the various unused old antenna holes. That along with the lack of ways to hide the dash wiring which is visible inside the cabin. I may make a false ceiling panel with a sliding access door to conceal the wiring.
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