Whats more fun then sandblasting and painting?

Pretty much anything!!!

It was one very long day (it always is and that’s what is so dreadful about sandblasting/painting a steel boat)…. Up at 5am, work started at 7am and ended at 18 hours later. ย After a short 3.5 hours of sleep we were back at painting and on for 3 more days… All that for one little section of boat to be finished. We are dividing the sandblasting and painting of the aft section in three. We did the tail end of the boat first, next will be the fuel tanks and finally the engine room.

Sandblast day is like one long triathlon: sandblast, clean, paint.

Sandblasting: shooting sand out of a hose at 110psi while standing right there, in the sand storm, trying to somewhat direct the sand jet in order to hopefully hitting every bit of surface. If claustrophobic restrain from doing this in tight areas. Lovely experience in the tail end of a boat.

Cleaning: Once you are done shooting approximately 1 tone of sand, clean it all out. No dust shall remain on any surfaces. Cleaning is done manually first with dust pans and feed scoops. Finish off with the shop vacs.

Painting: Nope, its not molasses but it sure feel like it; its epoxy paint…. yes, it has to be brushed and rolled on all surface and crevices. Wear mask, gloves and sacrificial clothing; you will still end up stone on fumes and sticky with goo. Tip: good aeration does help a lot with the fumes and the epoxy paint can be washed off the skin with vinegar if done before the paint cures.

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