Re: paint stripping and re painting
Hi,
Good luck, and welcome to iboats!
Paint stripping. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH. :facepalm:
Take a look at my 16' Naden Restoration thread - the link is in my signature below - you can see what worked and didn't for me. I'm getting towards the end of stripping my boat, using a combination of paint stripper (some brands are listed on the thread), plus a wire wheel when most of the paint is off, to finish the job.
There were some tricks I was told about by other iboats users - using plastic wrap for example on top of the wet stripper to keep the stripper working and prevent the solvents from evaporating - that made life easier. If the paint is in good shape, then just sand it, get it ready for painting and re-paint. In my case, the paint was peeling, had sags and runs - and there was about five layers of paint on it in some spots. I had to strip the boat to bare metal. Paint stripper plus wire wheel doesn't do any damage, but it does wear on the rivet heads more than on the hull, so you have to be careful. Be prepared to put some time into the stripping - it is a long and unpleasant job - wire wheeling is more fun than paint stripping. You may just want to try wire wheeling first.
Other methods - soda blasting (not sand blasting) - but I don't have one, and to hire someone would be pricey.
In terms of minor leaks in the rivets, you either have to rebuck them (air hammer on one side, plus a steel plate on the other - two person job - hit the head on the one side, and it will tighten the rivet) or drill them and replace them. For the hull, you need to use solid aluminum rivets, not pop rivets. I will be starting the process of replacing rivets (hopefully this weekend), using an air chisel and sledgehammer for a steel plate. As for leaks in the seams, you will want to use Gluvit. Gluvit is available on both ebay and iboats - for us Canadians, check the shipping costs.
Good luck.
