Gel coat removal - water sanding vs. straight line sanding

Trying to do some work on my ship. Does anyone that reads this forum
have experience in the best way to remove gelcoat? I've got an area
thats too big to hand sand on the wing that needs some work. A friend
suggested I buy a water sander that continuously feeds water to the
sander (similar to a pneumatic powered straight line sander).

What's the best tools to safely and effectively removing the old gel?

On Feb 6, 12:54*pm, LS3 Pilot wrote:
Trying to do some work on my ship. *Does anyone that reads this forum
have experience in the best way to remove gelcoat? *I've got an area
thats too big to hand sand on the wing that needs some work. *A friend
suggested I buy a water sander that continuously feeds water to the
sander (similar to a pneumatic powered straight line sander).

What's the best tools to safely and effectively removing the old gel?

Hand sanding with 100 grit.
You didn't want to hear that.
UH

On Feb 6, 4:18*pm, wrote:
On Feb 6, 12:54*pm, LS3 Pilot wrote:

Trying to do some work on my ship. *Does anyone that reads this forum
have experience in the best way to remove gelcoat? *I've got an area
thats too big to hand sand on the wing that needs some work. *A friend
suggested I buy a water sander that continuously feeds water to the
sander (similar to a pneumatic powered straight line sander).

What's the best tools to safely and effectively removing the old gel?

Hand sanding with 100 grit.
You didn't want to hear that.
UH

I gave you the smart ass answer first. We use 5 inch Porter Cable
orbital with soft pad and Mirka 80 grit discs.
We put in a dust collection system because it's pretty darned messy.
Start slow and take your time. Impatience leads to lots more work.
Good luck
Uh

On Feb 6, 9:54*am, LS3 Pilot wrote:
Trying to do some work on my ship. *Does anyone that reads this forum
have experience in the best way to remove gelcoat? *I've got an area
thats too big to hand sand on the wing that needs some work. *A friend
suggested I buy a water sander that continuously feeds water to the
sander (similar to a pneumatic powered straight line sander).

What's the best tools to safely and effectively removing the old gel?

The last one I did using an 8" grinder turning 1800 rpm with a 40 grit
sanding disc! Be careful to stop just short of hitting any glass, then
finish up with 60 Grit and a small 6"hand disk grinder.
Does that answer your question?
:) JJ

Well, specifically, what about this one?

http://www.google.com/products/catal...822&sa=title#p

On Feb 6, 3:56*pm, LS3 Pilot wrote:
Well, specifically, what about this one?

http://www.google.com/products/catal...en&show=dd&cid...

Sand dry. Use a vacuum of some sort if you want to try and keep dust
in the area to a minimum. Didn't want to hear that either, did you?

Steve

On Feb 6, 2:23*pm, Steve Leonard wrote:
On Feb 6, 3:56*pm, LS3 Pilot wrote:

Well, specifically, what about this one?

http://www.google.com/products/catal...en&show=dd&cid...

Sand dry. Use a vacuum of some sort if you want to try and keep dust
in the area to a minimum. *Didn't want to hear that either, did you?

Steve

One of more than a few reasons I don't do it for a living anymore.

Craig

On Feb 6, 10:54*am, LS3 Pilot wrote:
Trying to do some work on my ship. *Does anyone that reads this forum
have experience in the best way to remove gelcoat? *I've got an area
thats too big to hand sand on the wing that needs some work. *A friend
suggested I buy a water sander that continuously feeds water to the
sander (similar to a pneumatic powered straight line sander).

What's the best tools to safely and effectively removing the old gel?

There's a thing called an "air file" auto body shops use.

http://www.pivco.net/index.php?main_...238#googlebase

It's a linear oscillating compressed air driven sander about 18" long
and 2.25" inches wide. I've been told they work pretty well with 80
grit and they have less chance of digging into the fiberglass than a
rotary grinder. Since it's air driven, I suppose you could safely use
wet sanding and avoid the dust.

On Feb 6, 7:57*pm, bildan wrote:
On Feb 6, 10:54*am, LS3 Pilot wrote:

Trying to do some work on my ship. *Does anyone that reads this forum
have experience in the best way to remove gelcoat? *I've got an area
thats too big to hand sand on the wing that needs some work. *A friend
suggested I buy a water sander that continuously feeds water to the
sander (similar to a pneumatic powered straight line sander).

What's the best tools to safely and effectively removing the old gel?

There's a thing called an "air file" auto body shops use.

http://www.pivco.net/index.php?main_...roducts_id=171....

It's a linear oscillating compressed air driven sander about 18" long
and 2.25" inches wide. *I've been told they work pretty well with 80
grit and they have less chance of digging into the fiberglass than a
rotary grinder. *Since it's air driven, I suppose you could safely use
wet sanding and avoid the dust.

I have used the following in order to find the "best"(for us) tools
fo gelcoat removal.
3 inch air rotary disc sander.- Too small- blows dust all over- noisy
7 inch electric disc sander. Too harsh for us and not easy to control.
Quick but likely to do damage easily.
18 inch air powered linear sander. Noisy. Not good except single
contour. Blows dust around. Need big compressor.
4 inch belt sander. Fast. tricky to use.
4 inch grinder with disc sanding attachment. Fast, fairly easy to
control. inexpensive. Slings dust everywhere.
5 inch electric orbital sander. Very uniform controllable removal.
Lowest dust generation in room. Easiest to use by unskilled or
learning helpers.
Only ones we use now are last 2 with last one doing 90% of the work.
Feel free to relearn the lessons already learned- we all seem tempted
to find the better way that nobody has found. Understand from the get-
go, there is no easy way to do this job.
Have "fun".
UH

On Feb 7, 6:26*am, wrote:
On Feb 6, 7:57*pm, bildan wrote:





On Feb 6, 10:54*am, LS3 Pilot wrote:

Trying to do some work on my ship. *Does anyone that reads this forum
have experience in the best way to remove gelcoat? *I've got an area
thats too big to hand sand on the wing that needs some work. *A friend
suggested I buy a water sander that continuously feeds water to the
sander (similar to a pneumatic powered straight line sander).

What's the best tools to safely and effectively removing the old gel?

There's a thing called an "air file" auto body shops use.

http://www.pivco.net/index.php?main_...roducts_id=171...

It's a linear oscillating compressed air driven sander about 18" long
and 2.25" inches wide. *I've been told they work pretty well with 80
grit and they have less chance of digging into the fiberglass than a
rotary grinder. *Since it's air driven, I suppose you could safely use
wet sanding and avoid the dust.

I have used the following in order to find the "best"(for us) tools
fo gelcoat removal.
3 inch air rotary disc sander.- Too small- blows dust all over- noisy
7 inch electric disc sander. Too harsh for us and not easy to control.
Quick but likely to do damage easily.
18 inch air powered linear sander. Noisy. Not good except single
contour. Blows dust around. Need big compressor.
4 inch belt sander. Fast. tricky to use.
4 inch grinder with disc sanding attachment. Fast, fairly easy to
control. inexpensive. Slings dust everywhere.
5 inch electric orbital sander. Very uniform controllable removal.
Lowest dust generation in room. Easiest to use by unskilled or
learning helpers.
Only ones we use now are last 2 with last one doing 90% of the work.
Feel free to relearn the lessons already learned- we all seem tempted
to find the better way that nobody has found. Understand from the get-
go, there is no easy way to do this job.
Have "fun".
UH- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Right on Uncle Hank, I use the Porter-Cable orbital sander with DA and
variable speed turning a soft pad with 6" sticky back sandpaper, 60
grit gets through the hard outer surface better (quicker) than 80
grit. I use the 18" air board, but it pulls my 11 cu/ft/min compressor
down in about 5 minutes.
I wouldn't worry too much about the dust, an MD told me the particles
from fiberglass and gelcoat are quite large and not the size that gets
trapped in your lungs. Use a good quality dust mask with inhalation/
exholation valve.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, glad I'm not doing any of that any more!
JJ