Can you plain fiberglass

[Kevski]

Hi very very new to all of this, so apologies in advance if this is a silly question.

My boat has a very raised and very ugly anti skid pattern in the fiberglass which I want to remove. Can I use an electric wood plainer to do this, and is this the best method? There is a big area to be done so I am looking for the easiest/quickest way to do it.

Thanks

Kevin

[Eric Sponberg]

No, your wood planer will go dull in about 2 seconds. You can use what is called a "peeler" which is like a planer but designed specifically for peeling off gelcoat and thin layers of fiberglass. You can also use a grinder with a flexible disc. After grinding, go over the area with ever finer sanding pads. Fill and fair out with fairing compound and sandpaper, then prime and paint.

Eric

[alan white]

I've had luck first dewaxing, then wire brushing with acetone, followed by leveling with a soupy epoxy/microlight mix. This created a new flat surface which I then textured over.
Eric's right about the planer being the wrong tool. Even if carbide, the results will not be close to flat. Planers are impossible to keep flat because they're too narrow.
The disc sanding or gelcoat grinding are horrible, but effective ways to remove the existing nonskid. I personally couldn't deal with the noise/dust/on-the-knees thing. It makes no difference to me if the boat weighs five pounds more.
Microlight/epoxy is nice because you can tape off where you don't want it and then cut through it when half-cured and remove the tape.
Any disc sander is going to be hard to control near off-limits areas, and I don't know about gelcoat grinders except to guess the same is true with them as well. Neither will leave a very level surface either, meaning filling and long-boarding by hand.
Adding instead of subtracting is a breeze in comparison. Incidentally, I also added a 4 oz glass layer over the levelled areas after microlighting/sanding, followed by maybe three sealer coats of pure epoxy. The glass keeps gelcoat cracks from telegraphing through--- and you'll never have to deal with the deck again except to paint it.


Alan

[Kevski]

Eric & Alan
Thank you very much for the advice
Kevin