After seeing that I was getting nowhere fast with the stripping, I tried using the oscillating sander on half of the back end. After a relatively long time wearing out sandpaper on half of it, I had limited results. That's when I realized that I'd be working on this project most weekends this summer and maybe getting it in the water before the end of the season...
So that's when I went to Home Depot to look for a power tool that might speed up progress. The Tool Guy there set me up with a grinder with a sanding attachment.
GRINDERS EAT WOOD!
On the left is what the chemical stripper did on the front of the hull. It pretty much didn't even bubble the rock-hard green paint. Now on the right, here's just a couple of minutes with the grinder on the same spot. Right down to the wood - no questions asked! Yippie! The back side section was down to bare wood in a comparatively short period of time. And the entire back end had the same result.
There's a cautionary tale here -
the grinder isn't something you want to take after your grandma's old furniture!!!
It does some serious finish and wood removal pretty fast. It's going to take the finish off the outside of the boat in a big hurry, and polish the metal fasteners along with it. When you hit the nails, sparks are flying! It takes awhile to get the touch so you don't end up with big circular gouges.
Mom always said "Don't grind your teeth." Moms know best.
