Any suggestions to remove old bilge paint on coarse woven roving mat? This is what I am dealing with in my bilge. I need to get the surface ready to fiberglass. 1979 23' Chris Craft Lancer? Plain old paint remover, a scrub brush and a power washer?
Oldshore, you have about the best way there (paint & varnish remover & a scrub brush). Just be sure to wear goggles as it is not fun in the eyes. I have also found that lots of (Ajax / Comet) and a scrub brush really helps cut the paint sludge & remover and clean things up. The concern I see with sanding / grinding thought it all is that you need to remove a lot of " glass" to cut down to the low spots in the roving, and why remove any more material (strength) than you need to.
Oldshore, you have about the best way there (paint & varnish remover & a scrub brush). Just be sure to wear goggles as it is not fun in the eyes. I have also found that lots of (Ajax / Comet) and a scrub brush really helps cut the paint sludge & remover and clean things up. The concern I see with sanding / grinding thought it all is that you need to remove a lot of " glass" to cut down to the low spots in the roving, and why remove any more material (strength) than you need to.
In case you haven't noticed, any time someone is going to glass over old glass it's recommended to grind the old glass back to good pink glass. Why remove paint, wash, and scrub when you're just going to have to grind it anyway?
Edit: That woven needs to be ground down about smooth anyway for a good bond for the new glass.
What do you plan to put on top of the old woven OS? I'm thinking a first layer of CSM might be best in case the old woven is still a little coarse or porous.
I will probably go paint remover, garden hose, then after hosing off the chemical and rinsing it out, the pressure washer if I feel the need to . I understand the need to rough up an existing layer of glass. This stuff is the REALLY coarse woven roven of 1/4" ribbons. It kind of looks like a picnic basket weave. I will be afraid to grind off too much as I am working on the bottom of the hull. I will use CSM then 1708, or if I go epoxy then biaxial.
Like jig said, if you are glassing over it you need to grind it down so that 100% of the surface has been abraded, just removing the paint is of little value. If you had a sand blaster you could abrade the low spots without removing the high spots, otherwise put on the tyvec suit and break out the grinder.
What is it you are doing, stringers, motor mounts, other repairs?
I totally agree with jigngrub.. If the prep work is not done correctly the new glass will FAIL..
You need to grind down just enough to remove all the paint and go over all the surface with acetone and then lay in the csm and 1708..
You really don't need to worry about losing strenght by grinding the woven roven.. If done correctly the csm and 1708 will be stronger than the woven roven..
Thanks for all your help. I have watched hours of Frisco's videos and read hours of rebuilds on this excellent forum. I forgot to realize anywhere I am sanding I will be laying down new fiberglass. Duh!
