How to Remove Paint (or ?) Inside of Cabin?

[76SeaRay]

Being a 1976, my boat had ugly white shag carpet all over in the cabin and green astro turf inside the cabin top. When I pulled those out, it appears that the fiberglass underneath had been painted (?) black. It doesn't appear to be gelcoat and is completely covered even on the wood shelves. Some of it seems to want to flake off but most seems stuck pretty good. I have tried a grinder and even a needle scaler. The needle scaler takes it off pretty fast but it leaves little "divots" so I only did a small test spot. Anybody know what product they used in mid 70's like this and best way to remove it? My plan has been to clean it, white gelcoat it, then cover with marine carpet (glued on) in either gray or dark blue. I just don't know if I can trust to just put carpet on top of it the way it is...

 

[Scott Danforth]

try a wire cup brush on the 4" grinder

 

[Chris1956]

Maybe it was some sort of mastic. Like the stuff used under asbestos floor tile. You could also try acetone and lots of rags. Fallback position is Paint remover for fiberglass.

 

[76SeaRay]

Thanks. I didn't know they made paint remover for fiberglass. Anyway, I bought two cup brushes (with gas prices got to cut down the trips to town). One brush is a twisted wire brush and the other one is a knotted wire brush. I started with the twisted wire brush and found that it was aggressive enough so didn't use the knotted wire brush as it would probably cut a hole right through the hull. Anyway, the twisted wire brush seems to be working pretty good but some of the black stuff is down in the "grain" of the fiberglass so I would have to grind into the glass to get rid of all of it. Since this will be covered by gelcoat and then carpet, I might just clean it with acetone for any residual small black spots, put a thin layer of poly resin, and followed by the gelcoat. Gelcoat may be overkill here with carpet going on top of it.

On a second note, the boat had white "cushy" vinyl sheet simulating square tiles with a foam backing in the area of the dinette and in the back half of the boat. When I pulled that off, it left fuzz and glue stuck to the sides of the boat. The twisted wire brush takes that off quite nicely though. I am planning to put a layer or two of 1/2 oz CSM over the sides for smoothing, follow that with gelcoat and then cover with carpet. Again, the gelcoat may be overkill since it is getting carpet up the sides.

Warm weather (mid 70's) hitting this week so going to pull the boat outside and get most of this cleaned off so I can do the finish work inside when it is raining. I can also maintain a constant temperature in my shop with a heat pump. My entire shop and everything in it has a thick later of fiberglass dust from working inside this past winter.

 

[Scott Danforth]

I just took the old glue off and then applied new glue. I dont think you need the additional steps unless you plan on fairing and gel coating.

 

[76SeaRay]

Yeah, I have been second guessing the additional step of gelcoat as it will have carpet glued over it anyway.

 

[76SeaRay]

Here is a picture of cleaning the fuzzy glue layer left by the vinyl removal. Before and after pic attached. The twisted wire cup brush does pretty good. Boat comes out of the shop tomorrow with sunny and mid 70's for hours of cleaning the inside before it starts to rain again and force me back into the shop.

 

[Chris1956]

Looks fine for carpet, just as you cleaned it. The weave is pretty well filled.

 

[76SeaRay]

Thanks, just going with carpet over it would help hold down the cost and help speed up my finish work. I will shoot a picture of the black stuff in the VBerth area today...

 

[76SeaRay]

The fuzzy stuff from the vinyl is off so looking at the black stuff. It appears that it must be paint. Here is a picture of it from where it was put on under the galley cabinet. You can see where I ground it off with the cup brush where the thru holes are for the sink and ice box drains. I think it was just for appearance purposes. There was no carpet on it behind the cabinet where as the V Berth was covered by carpet.

 

[Chris1956]

Maybe it is black gelcoat?

 

[76SeaRay]

Could be. Although it flaked in some areas, it is definitely stuck on there hard in most places. It is also on some of the wood like the shelves in the V Berth and the wood inside the engine side vents.