The first order of business once the boat was down on blocks, was to get the paint stripped off.  For this we contracted Eco Strip, a company that specializes in removing bottom paint.  They use what is essentially a warm pumice mud to blast the paint off the hull.

We budgeted four days for this process, but they brought two machines and got it done in a day and a half.  This is hands-down the fastest, most economical and environmentally-friendly way to get bottom paint off a boat.

What we’re left with is a little bit baffling.  It’s kind of like stucco.  We can clearly see it was put on with a trowel.  The stripping process removed whatever soft fairing was used, so we’ll have to re-fair it before we can barrier coat and paint.