Bottom Questions

[Mort Fligelman]

Has anyone had the bottom of their boats Soda Blasted?

If so, what were the costs?

Also.....the positives and negatives.

I have been quoted a ludicrous figure (at least it appears so to me) per foot.

What are some of the prices paid, or quotes received?

 

[Emerald]

I paid around $500-$550 for having Emerald's bottom taken down last year as part of a ful barrier coat job. She's 31 feet. If you do have some one blast, make sure they are good at it as you can really tear up the gelcoat if they're not careful, and there is debate about how bad blasting can be on gelcoat by opening up pores. I wasn't worried about this as I was doing a full bottom job and felt the 5 coats of Interlux Interprotect would take care of any gelcoat porosity from blasting. The person who did mine actually took it to a point where there was still a red haze of bottom paint that we then removed the last traces of with a quick sanding. The other thing to be aware of is if you don't seal it (through hulls, strut bearing etc.) it will get blast material in it and require very careful cleaning.

 

[ted_reshetiloff]

Had a company blast a 40' boat for race bottom prep before I went to Bermuda last year. IIRC it was $1800 or $45/foot. I think that was Chespeake Soda Clean. Did a great job and were very thorough. These guys do this to boats all day long and know what they are doing. I will never strip a bottom any other way. Grinders and scrapers are for suckers!

 

[KanH]

I paid a little over a $1000 for my 30+ and I felt it was worth the cost. There where a couple of patches that need some sanding afterwards but nothing a half an afternoon couldn’t handle. My guy taped the sides with plastic and sealed up all the through hulls. When he was done you could almost not even tell that he was there. No mess to the boat or the yard. I have scrapped and pealed bottom paint before and was the best result I have seen. The best part was that it unearthed a couple of stress cracks in the rudder and areas that need patching on the hull that might not have been exposed otherwise. The saved time went to minor repairs and barrier coat and painting.