Removing paint of a Heron
Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: General
Forum Name: Repair & maintenance
Forum Discription: Questions & tips on the subject
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7367
Printed Date: 15 May 25 at 12:42am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Removing paint of a Heron
Posted By: doomie22
Subject: Removing paint of a Heron
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 12:13pm
|
Hi all, I have been given a heron by a close friend of mine as he cannot restore it to its glory days. I am in the process of removing all the paint so I can fix all the issues with it (was originally made in 1963). I have been looking at Nitro Mors to help get the paint off, but I am really scared that it might damage the wood. Can nitro mors be used on a wooden boat like mine, if so which colour tin is the best (noticed that there is a couple of versions of it). Thank you, Doomie
|
Replies:
Posted By: kfz
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 1:22pm
|
Yellow is the best (probably the best paint remover ful stop) and is very wood friendly, Ive never manage to damage the wood no matter how long its left on. IF your worried then start in a dark place. Not sure you will find it easy to restore a painted boat to a varnished one though. You may find the deck isn't that good. I have personally pretty much dropped the use of paint removers in favor of the vastly cheaper, quicker, much less messy and generally easier heat gun. Kev ------------- GP14 Fleet Captain Liverpool Sailing Club http://www.liverpoolsailingclub.org/ - Liverpool SC |
Posted By: doomie22
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 1:26pm
|
thank you for that info. The bottom of the boat is painted, the inside and top is varnished, but the paint is just not coming off with a heatgun atm and I have tried a belt sander but that isn't my cup of tea to removing paint as I don't know how many times its been done in the past.
|
Posted By: winging it
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 1:27pm
|
dead right Kev, a heat gun is the way to go. Less messy (unless you burn yourself) and more rewarding. If you don't clean the wood really thoroughly after notromors you will be forever sorry - learned from bitter experience. Doomie, the rest of the cvrda clan will be here shortly to welcome you in.... ------------- the same, but different... |
Posted By: kfz
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 1:42pm
Well then you dont care if you burn it a bit assuming your going to paint the hull? Belt sander is useless just clogs up. Sounds like your heat gun is a bit wimpy (which will defo burn the wood). Can you borrow a bigger one. Maybe its painted with 2 pack or something???? Kev ------------- GP14 Fleet Captain Liverpool Sailing Club http://www.liverpoolsailingclub.org/ - Liverpool SC |
Posted By: doomie22
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 1:46pm
| Looking at the paint, it has about 7 separate coats of paint and I really don't know how long its been on, in parts it comes off so easily, but the parts that are currently left to remove are just being so annoying. |
Posted By: kfz
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 1:51pm
Yea I had the same (inc pink!) . Heat gun on High and work quickly. Kev ------------- GP14 Fleet Captain Liverpool Sailing Club http://www.liverpoolsailingclub.org/ - Liverpool SC |
Posted By: SoggyBadger
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 2:15pm
|
Here's a link to an article on the CVRDA website http://www.cvrda.org/boats/hintstips/varnishing/removing_varnish.htm It's about getting varnish off but should be equally applicable to paint. I think the key is not to rush things. Just be glad you're doing a Heron and not a National 18 :) ------------- Best wishes from deep in the woods SB |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 2:24pm
|
I like a triangular scraper with a comfey handle (work at a small angle to the grain) and a fairly decent heat gun. Leave the gun heating the paint until it just begins to raise a blister, then scrape, moving the gun to heat the next bit as you do. In the good old days (when doing this sort of thing a lot) I could strip an Albacore in about 8 hours, with just a couple of short breaks. Funnily enough, years later, I now suffer from gammy back and shoulders. Take the job easy, enjoy discovering what is under there! Oh, heat guns appear to be expendable, by the way... ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 2:27pm
| I'd not advise stripping all the paint off if you have a choice. Better to sand back as long as the paint is adhering. You lose wood if you strip, and you have a lot more fairing and filling to do. The weapon of choice for doing a lot of boat sanding is the ransom orbital sander. Belt sanders are too risky. |
Posted By: winging it
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 4:30pm
|
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... ------------- the same, but different... |
Posted By: rogerd
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 5:21pm
|
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
|
Posted By: kfz
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 8:12pm
I'd completely agree with Roger on this one, I was using the type with long knife blade in but its a bit wide for curved surfaces on the hull. I found using an old chisel and keeping it razor sharp worked the best. Im told the tungsten ones are the ones to go for. Using a very sharp scraper it was actually best not to melt the paint just soften it enough so that it loses its adhesion then lift all the coats in one go. Kev ------------- GP14 Fleet Captain Liverpool Sailing Club http://www.liverpoolsailingclub.org/ - Liverpool SC |
Posted By: PaulB
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 8:21pm
I went from this........
 to this in about 6 hours with a random orital sander and a 1/3 sheet orbital sander to get a smooth finish.
 An hour later it was this....epoxy primer.
 |
Posted By: rogerd
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 8:45pm
|
Very nice and looks much better varnished than painted.
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.
I was told by a very particular woodworker that the old scrapers were madewith a softer metal than the modern steel ones and are much easier to keep sharp.
|
Posted By: PaulB
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 8:50pm
| It is going to be 2 pack painted. There are to many repairs to be varnished. |
Posted By: kfz
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 9:33pm
Well nice work. You have more luck than me with the sander I find it just clogs with melted paint and leaves load of paint in the cracks. The N12 is timber isnt it? while the heron is ply so have to be careful with the sander not to take out the top veneer Kev ------------- GP14 Fleet Captain Liverpool Sailing Club http://www.liverpoolsailingclub.org/ - Liverpool SC |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 18 Nov 10 at 11:09pm
|
The N12 will be cold molded ply, so the top layer may well be thicker than the ply on a sheet built boat. Still easy to go through, though. Love the look of that 12 - good work! Amazed you were able to remove the paint so quickly just by sanding - the garage must have been a sight to see after... ------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 19 Nov 10 at 9:47am
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... |
Posted By: Rupert
Date Posted: 19 Nov 10 at 11:47am
|
Jim, I think provided you are doing planned maintenance on a boat that you know the work history on, you are quite correct. Picking up a wreck on ebay is a very different matter - if the paint is in that poor a state, I want to know what is going on under it..
------------- Firefly 2324, Puffin 229, Minisail 3446 Mirror 70686 |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 19 Nov 10 at 12:42pm
|
> if the paint is in that poor a state, I want to know what is going
> on under it.. I think you're going to find out either way aren't you... By the time you've got down through umpteen layers of top coat and down to undercoat/primer then you are going to know if there are any problems with the underlying skin and treat it appropriately. Twenty layers of top coat will certainly hide a multitude of sins, but by the time you get down to a half layer of paint with a reasonable number of bare patches then you are going to have a pretty shrewd idea what's going on, because cracks, poor adhesion, all the rest of it are going to be highly visible... I'm not advocating leaving paint tha's in a poor state on, I'm just advocating leaving paint that is still good on! Oh, and of course if we are dealing with a painted composite boat (and they have been around long enough to be getting into the restoration stakes now) then you *definitely* don't want to be sanding into the fibres: you definitely need to be stopping at primer/fairing filler. |
Posted By: Barty
Date Posted: 19 Nov 10 at 1:25pm
|
For the more adventurous people (and those used to using grinders) you can use a angle grinder with a fine sanding disc on it (the ones made with flaps of sand paper). I did an entire mirror down to almost bare ply in 2 hours and then just finished it off with the orbital......this isn't the way for the inexperienced or feint-hearted but if your comfortable with this kind of tool you can be very accurate and careful. ------------- http://www.highlandtopper.com - For Topper boats & spares in Scotland-highlandtopper.com |
Posted By: rogerd
Date Posted: 19 Nov 10 at 6:32pm
|
Posted By: doomie22
Date Posted: 24 Nov 10 at 1:43pm
|
I am going to go down the nitro mors path as its really annoying me that I am working on it for hours with the heat gun, then see that I have actually not done much at all. After I have used nitro mors, can any recommend what I can clean the wood with so get rid of it and make sure that when I paint that it will stick please. Thanks Doomie.
|
Posted By: rogerd
Date Posted: 24 Nov 10 at 6:42pm
| I think the most improtant thing is lots of water to wash it off |
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 24 Nov 10 at 6:50pm
| By a small tin of Nitromors first and try it, not the great big expensive ones. It never works that well for me. |
Posted By: rogerd
Date Posted: 24 Nov 10 at 7:05pm
Agreed I have always found its good for the little bits left by the heat gun.
Imust say I am confused as to why it wont come off with the heat gun. It normally works for me.
|