Removing paint of a Heron

At the start of the year (pre several outbursts of surgery) I tried to strip my marauder with a heat gun.  That also had coats of many colours and would not shift.  A couple of weeks ago (post surgery) I had another go with the heat gun and it peeled off like sun burnt skin...very gratifying.  In the meantime I had tried using the eco friendly paint stripper which had actually worked better then nitromors, then went under the knife so let it to bake in a boat shed with a clear plastic ceiling all summer....  I don't know what the chemistry of this process was, but it went from being really tough to really easy...

Originally posted by rogerd A good scraper makes all the difference and keep it sharp. I gave up on theB&Q ones and found a lovely wooden handled one from a guy who sold tools at a boot sale. Looks like he does house clearances and concentrates on the old boys work shop. Some really lovely tools at sensible prices. Good luck with the restoration and when she is done come and sail with us at the cvrda.   Roger

Originally posted by PaulB It is going to be 2 pack painted. There are to many repairs to be varnished.

Originally posted by rogerd My only concern using a sander is that it is very easy to go through the top veneer of ply. Not to much of a problem if you are going to paint but will totally ruin the look of a varnished deck

That's why these days I don't take my boats back to bare wood. OK its essential if you are going to varnish, but every time you do it you lose a little more strength. I'm now with the paint suppliers, who tell you that provided the old paint is still adhering, you should leave much of it on. I reckon now that I want a prepped boat to be showing about 50/50 undercoat primer, assuming they are distinguishable, with the odd bit of bare wood and top coat left. Looks horrible until you start painting again, but I think its better foor the boat in the long term. The downside of course is you lose all the satisfaction of the bare wood returning (and its a really nice sight :-)), but in my case I may be dealing with 3mm or even thinner ply, and it does no good at all to be removing any of it. Besides which I save an awful lot of effort in surface prep after the first coat goes on because there is so much less work to do in filling bumps, lumps, scraper marks etc etc... Oh, the other exception is if the plywood is already sick, and I want to try epoxy soaking it to keep it alive...