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I have finally taken the step...stripped down my 1965 13' and plan to soda blast, fair, prime and gelcoat interior and exterior hull. Boat has been unused in my garage for the past 5 years. I have been reading a lot of the posts and I think I am educated enough to attempt a DIY project with the understanding that I may need a professional to step in.
The Soda Blast was completed yesterday. He made more progress in 20 minutes then I did with my orbital sander in the past 5 years, and the bottom paint was toxic. I sanded the interior pretty sell, got out the cracks and went to the mat in some places, but the bottom paint and exterior paint was chipping and I was getting nowhere. 5 Hrs later I picked up the boat, he used some sand in the interior to rough up the hard gelcoat and needed to hit the exterior sides with sand too. In some spots he exposed foam.
My question is about my next step. Blaster told me that I needed to wash down the int and ext with water and vinegar to remove the soda residue, but I am hesitant due to the exposed foam. Should I wash, let dry then fill, or fill then wash?
Also can the exposed areas be filled with the surfacing compound or do I need Resin and Glass? I will post some pics soon.
You will want to patch the areas where the foam is exposed. I would wipe down the repair areas with a damp rag then acetone. That should be clean enough to perform the repair. I would use angel hair fiberglass cloth and polyester resin. Many others on this site use west systems and such ( your choice )
I have been chopping 1.5oz fiberglass matt dipping it into the polyester resin and MEKP and stuffing it into holes with small popsicle stick. Then I am spreading another coat of resin over the top with some cloth if needed. I didn't count on this step in the process. Some of the holes are so small, I don't want to pry them open, stuff and cover so I am thinking about just smearing some resin over, hitting it with the sander, then covering with the surfacing filler/putty later.
I am not sure what the angel hair cloth, the matt I am using is pretty thick stuff, the cloth is same used for surfboard repairs.
The guy who did the blasting told me to use marine filler or putty, but I think some of the holes are too big.
Try to get some of the chopped fibers in and around all the small holes too. You will sand the repairs smooth with the rest of the gelcoat. You can also mix cabosil ( small fiberglass loops ) with the resin, I use it as a thickner to repair vertical sufaces. I don't know if this is technically correct, but I have thickened gelcoat with cabosil and used it like bondo.
