Wet sand blaster for powerwasher?

[Ruari 29]

Any one bought or used one, It supposed to feed sand through the powerwasher lance. Im thinking about buying one, they cost about £79.

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[Erin]

I bought one for my washer. Not as good/effective as the pictures would have you believe but still useful. You need to make sure you use totally dry sand (kiln dried) otherwise it gets stuck in the pipe. You also need a fairly powerful machine and lots of sand as it is very slow.

[Ruari 29]

Originally Posted by Erin

I bought one for my washer. Not as good/effective as the pictures would have you believe but still useful. You need to make sure you use totally dry sand (kiln dried) otherwise it gets stuck in the pipe. You also need a fairly powerful machine and lots of sand as it is very slow.

What did you use it on? I was looking to use on a old trailer and was also thinking about using on the hull?
Ruari

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[Erin]

I had a practice cleaning some enamel paint off a parasol base, but it was slow. The main reason for buying it was to strip the many layers of antifoul off my parent's motor boat. It was useful in the tricky areas, but a flat scraper turned out to be the most effective. The main problem was that when pointing the lance upwards to do the underside of the hull, if you let off the trigger the water would run back and clog up the sand and you'd need to clean it all before it would restart.

[Ruari 29]

Thats the main reason I want it for, the many layers of antifoul on my hull, I have a heat gun but not sure if it and a scraper would be better.
Thanks for the info

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[Erin]

I wouldn't use a heat gun. There is no need and AFAIK antifoul won't soften like house paints. One of the angled tungsten scrapers is the best and the more old antifoul the better because it is more brittle and flakes off easier. If I were doing it all again I'd seriously consider hiring one of the soda bead blasters. They look effective and cheap.

[Ruari 29]

Ok Erin, thanks. My rib was previously a sailing club rescue boat and they put on new antifoul in June this year just before I bought it. Antifoul is quite new with old layers underneath.
Will look into a machine.

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[captnjack]

Heat gun works but the vapors are nasty and if left in one spot too long will soften the gelcoat too. Over here there's no way a sandblaster or pressure washer would be allowed. There's a ton of copper (and lead) in the dust or residual water and its prohibited discharge as it contaminates the adjacent water and sediment. All our boatyards are paved so they can sweep up dust or paint chips. On top of that you have to work on a big tarp. The "approved" method of stripping antifoul is either a chemical stripper with scraper or a sanding machine hooked up to a vacuum. I have used all three methods and none are perfect. Heat gun + scraper only works in small areas, but good around through hulls and corners. Chemical stripper can be slow and require 2 or more applications. Sanding with vacuum is still nasty and you must wear a respirator etc. Its also hard to get in corners and avoid oversanding high spots. Best to have multiple methods at hand depending on the area of the hull needing extra effort.

[Slaphead]

I used a Balco scraper with the tungsten blade on the hull of a Hardy 20 a few years ago. It was hard work but effective. Got about 18 years of antifoul off which looked like layers of chocolate cake. Took between 11 - 12 hours of scraping laying on my back. Could only last about hour and a half of scraping each turn. Needed to be completely clothed/goggled/masked up and even then I was still gobbing up red antifoul. Sweating and condensation in the mask were a problem. Arms looked like Charles Atlas afterward s though