Dan Bissett
Hello,
We have just bought our sonata and don’t have any previous experience of owning a yacht.
Mast
I wanted to drop the mast on my sonata, are there any special considerations when doing so?
I.E. When do I undo the forstay? and would I need to retention the shrouds when the mast is back up?
Anti Fouling
I will be applying anti fouling to my sonata in the next few weeks and wondered what the best approash would be.
I have been advised to use wet and dry to rub down the exisiting anti fouling. Do I have to take this completly off or rub it down to a level so that the new anti fouling has something to bind to?
I have been advised not to use sanders as the anti fouling is toxic. I also have a number of rust spots on the keel, whats the best way of combating these?
Thanks
Dan
Robert Davis
My understanding is that the chemical stripers are not good at getting through primer layers that have been painted over old antifoul to form a barrier layer. We have had to work through 3 such layers whilst removing 15 Kgs of antifoul from Sarabande.
I found the best weapon was a 6 inch wide heavy duty wallpaper striper from B & Q placed in the hands of a 23 year old second row forward who has a financial incentive to complete the job!
Now we have come down to a thick layer of paint that is proving a lot more boring to remove.
The joys of sailing!
Dan Bissett
Thanks for all your advice.
I sanded her down on Saturday and applied hammerite to all the sanded down rusty bits on the keel.
I then sanded that down again on Sunday. I’ve now applied my first coat of anti foul and it looks fantastic.
Out of interest whats the best anti fowl to use? I used Blakes cruiser performance…….
Roll on next week to finish her off….
Cheers
Dan
Robert Davis
I am thinking of using International Paint’s VC 17M. Part of the basis for this is that it is much thinner than a soft antifoul so build up will not be such an issue. It is rather expensive but you get what you pay for.
After spending most of the winter scraping antifoul and paint I do not want to have to do the job again for a very long tim, if ever.
Has anybody got any suggestions for moving a thick layer of well attached, probably polyurethane paint and primer from the bottom of the boat? Compared to the wieght of the antifoul it is not that heavy but I would like to get down to the hull.
Scraping is boring! 
George Jack
Hi Guys,
I am in the process of doing my bottom at mo and will ultimitely end up anti-fouling with International VC Offshore.
I have taken all the old anti-fouling off and am left with a layer of strong white paint. I spoke to International Paint regarding this and they thought that it would most likely be a two-pack paint as they thought that Hunter used to apply this onto Sonatas.
I tried putting International VC Tar on top and it has had no adverse reaction atall which would suggest that it was a two-pack paint.
I am currently repairing rust spots on my keel, and will then apply 3-5 coats of VC Tar to completely seal the bottom, followed by 2 coats VC Offshore.
International products are not cheap but I find them to be excellent, with excellent customer support.
Check out their website for lots of hints and tips: www.yachtpaint.com
George Jack.
James Dargie
I too am scraping down the antifouling and a red layer of 2-pack or epoxy resin to bare hull. What a job, more than half way through. I’m going to lightly abrade and then shove several coats of Gelshield 200 epoxy on afterwards, then anti-fouling.
Robert Davis
Interesting to know that others are having as much fun as I am!
The tough paint could well have been there from new. It was under an almighty depth of antifoul and barrier layers. The only thing against it being done by Hunters is that my boat was home finished so I would not expect that much finishing to have been done by Hunters.
Removing it all is probably going to become too much of a job given that it is a fraction of the weight of the antifoul. Will probably remove what I can from the bow and the stern and then overcoat with VC Tar which is advertised as helping to prevent osmosis.
My son’s latest helpful suggestion was that it would be easier if we turned the boat over. Nice idea!
George Jack
Great minds think alike, or fools seldom differ!
I have spent many hours under the bottom recently wondering how difficult it would actually be to turn her over 🙂
I was initially going to take all the paint off, but in the end decided that there was no point taking off a coat of decent 2 pack to replace with more 2 pack.
Steven Rolland
Hi Dan,
There is nothing special to worry about when dropping the mast. If you are dropping it yourself for the first time then you probably want three or four people around so you have spare hands should you find anything that you haven’t considered. Once you’ve done it a couple of times then you can do it easily with two people. If you are using a hoist or similar then it is a lot simpler obviously.
If you are dropping it without a hoist etc, then there is a description here:
George Jack
Hi Dan,
I recently stripped the bottom of my Sonata of all anti-fouling using a stripper gel called Dilunet.
I painted it on, left it to work overnight, then power hosed it off the following morning.
It worked a treat, removing most of the old anti-fouling except a few small bits near the waterline which I wet sanded off.
Fair winds,
George Jack.