Stripped the paint off of Blue Heron's Hull !!

[Blue Heron]

We decided to use a paint stripper to remove the paint job that was applied by some previous owner.
Not sure what kind of paint it was...guessing it was your basic marine enamel. We used Smart Strip by Peelaway...available at Sherwin Williams, and we were pretty happy the product. Anyway, we were worried that the old paint was hiding some ghastly repair, but we were pleasantly surprised to find the original Light Blue hull in great shape! Now we will see if the Gelcoat can be brought back to a uniform color and high gloss. link to slideshow on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDoM5UhRhzw

[squid]

Kool!
looks like a lot of work, how long did it take?

[Blue Heron]

We spent a total of 4 days, nine hours a day for the entire thing.

The good news is that it appears that compounding the gelcoat is going to bring it back...check out these photos of the section we did a little compounding on

[selene]

That is totally awesome!  Not only is gelcoat going to stay nicer-looking for longer, but I also prefer the "new" color when buffed up.