1986 26’ clipper craft wood hull paint

Hi first time being on site. I have a 26’ mahogany plywood clipper craft that I’m restoring. It’s my first plywood boat. I’m looking for advice on properly removing hull paint without damaging plywood and if I should epoxy before applying bottom paint? I would appreciate any advice.

 

In my opinion, the best way to remove perished paint from timber, with minimal scoring (obviously if there are soft spots, that may not apply) is the mesh type of sanding disc, particularly the softer, more yielding grades, 3M makes them, among others. I think the best is the 7" diameter that fits a disc sander/polisher, 2 speed, and use the lower speed. This is the general appearance of the type of thing, not ultra cheap, and you need to make sure no nail heads are standing proud of the surface, as that will destroy them.....
The beauty of this method, is it also removes the surface weathered timber that has been exposed for some time, and that promotes better paint adhesion.

 

I have used a heat gun and plywood scrapers. (Belt sand a sharp edge)

easy to burn fingers and scorch the wood if u do it wrong

Work outside. Wear a respirator or run a fan across your face.

 

Welcome to the club.

A few questions:
Is the plywood currently sheathed in fiberglass?
Top side or bottom paint?
How deteriorated is the paint?
What are your expectations of the final outcome?
How is removing the old paint going to progress the project toward your goal?
What is your paintinge experience?

A few pics would be extremely helpful

Good luck

 

Firmly adhering paint need not be removed, unless there is an incompatibility between the new and the old finish, though feathering is not that easy if the paint is harder than the substrate,

 

There is no fiberglass. Bottom paint. The waterline down is bad, waterline up paint is in okay shape. Should I epoxy first and then paint?

 

Bad news there is no good way to prepare the bottom for repainting.

Is it ablative anti-fouling?
Hard anti-fouling?
Non-anti-fouling?

AF is very toxic!

Heat removal can burn and WILL produce toxic fumes to breathe in.

Sanding, grinding or sandblasting produces toxic dust that will likely be ingested. And will remove some wood.

Chemical stripping is it's own toxic soup.

Using a hook scraper can leave deep gouges and is an incredible upper body workout. But the paint chips are mostly too large to ingest.

Absolutely epoxy if it isn't contaminated with ablative.

Ablative anti-fouling will prevent any other coating from adhering properly. All you can do with ablative is smooth it as best you can and recoat with more ablative if you can get it. Ablative will slowly dissolve into a wet scrub pad.

Good luck
It looks like a worthy cause