stripping two pack marine paint

[HUON]

I'm in the process of stripping some two pack marine paint off my clinker dinghy, I've already used 8 lt of paint stripper and still only half way there. Is there a super duper stripper out there or should I start sanding. My reason for using the chemical approach is that I didn't want to eat away at the timber with a sander. I've seen a number of hulls and decks thinned substantially by sanding.

[taz01]

Would a heat gun be an option? I'd think the marine paint would be thick enough to protect the wood from any damage.

[HUON]

Yeah, I tried that Taz, it was slower than Forest Trump. Could be that the gun didn't have enough grunt.

[KeithP]

Wow! I didn't think it could be done. I understand that 2 pack paint polymerises by chemical reaction and will not soften like 1 pack paint.
2 pack is also very chemical resistant.
Are you trying to strip to finish in a clear coat?

Regards
Keith

[HUON]

No Keith, going to put a house paint on it. It spends most of it's time on a trailer. I see where you're coming from, too late to sand it back to a rough keying surface. The reason I want to take it back to timber is to check the clinker seams and tighten up the copper roves.

[HUON]

Taz , one of my concerns about using a heat gun on the hull of this clinker/lapstrake dinghy (which is made from marine ply, not real wood) is the effect the heat will have on the glue bonding the laminates together. I'd be interested to hear peoples views on this.

[artful bodger]

Hi Huon. Recently stripped paint off some windows with a (good) heat gun and scraper. There was also mountains of elbow grease involved.
A short time later I saw professional painters stripping similar paint with one of those hand held propane cylinders with a blow torch attached to it. Like the ones plumbers sometimes use for soldering. The method seemed to be much quicker and easier than my heat gun. However I am unsure how it may affect the glue in your laminations.

[HUON]

Gave that a go artful bodger. Think I might try and get a nozzle that spreads the heat more , the one that came with the unit is too concentrated. Burnt wood .
Then again I might go back to the paint stripper and scraper and finish it off with a light sand.