Sanding SeaDek

[Kuncicky]

The deck of the old boat which I am restoring has SeaDek on it. Trying to follow the manufacturer's recommendation and peel it up, using acetone or a similar product, doesn't work. It is too old, and when you get some loose and try to peel it up, the broken pieces of the deck tend to come up with it So I figure that I need to sand it, and then paint the deck with KiwiGrip, as recommended in an earlier thread.


What I don't know is how well sanding the old SeaDek is going to work. Any thoughts on that before I start?


Thanks,
Bill

 

[Comodave]

Have you tried something like a wide putty knife to help pry it up? Sanding it is going to be tough I think. However I have never tried it. But it would seem that sanding the adhesive will clog up the sand paper pretty quickly. Did you try a heat gun?

 

[Kuncicky]

Have you tried something like a wide putty knife to help pry it up? Sanding it is going to be tough I think. However I have never tried it. But it would seem that sanding the adhesive will clog up the sand paper pretty quickly. Did you try a heat gun?

I agree that sanding the adhesive is probably going to require a lot of changes of the sandpaper on the belt sander. Haven't tried a heat gun. That experience of pulling up a section of the SeaDek and having some pieces of the deck come up with it was pretty traumatic, though, so I'm really shy of trying to peel it up again.


Bill

 

[Dougcole]

Yeah, start by scraping off as much as you can, then sand as a last resort. You might have better luck with on of those flap disks or the disks that are like hard bristles.

 

[Kuncicky]

Yeah, start by scraping off as much as you can, then sand as a last resort. You might have better luck with on of those flap disks or the disks that are like hard bristles.

Scraping first sounds like a great idea. And I'm thinking that maybe a wire brush on a drill might help with some of the stubborn spots . . . I'm also thinking that if I am going to paint over everything anyway, things do not need to look bristol at all. Just so there is a relative smooth surface to paint over.


Bill

 

[Comodave]

Here is what I think I would do. I would use a heat gun to soften the adhesive. Then scrape it with a putty knife. Use acetone to get up all the glue residue possible. Then sand if necessary. If the deck is badly damaged then grind to solid glass. Lay in a layer or two of 1708 with epoxy. Fill the repaired areas with epoxy thickened with a structural filler. I usually do this all at one time if the ground area isn’t more than a couple of layers of 1708 deep. Wash to remove any amine blush and scrub with a stiff bristle brush. Sand to remove any high spots and to give some tooth to the finish. Then paint with Kiwigrip. It will fill any minor imperfections so the filler doesn’t have to be perfect. I have done this, minus the Seadeck, many times and it works well. Also since the Kiwigrip fills imperfections it saves a lot of finishing time.

 

[FF]

A 9 inch diameter 2 inch thick sanding pad with #16 or #24 grit floor refinishing paper will do the job in little time.

The floor sanding material looks like thin cardboard and has silicone carbide abrasive.

The unit will need to be held up from the surface a bit as its very very aggressive but does a great job.

We simply snap the cardboard as the square corners help not doing damage to the surface. The cardboard is glued to the pad with Disc Adhesive.

Look in large hardware stores that rent floor sanders for the sanding material., usually sold by the foot, 2 ft should do.

 

[Mark P]

I had Seadek on my last boat and replaced a two foot by three foot piece. Here is what I did: used hand to pull as much as possible, then used plastic putty knife too take as much more as possible, then took acetone on a rag and took glue off as much as possible. My boats fiberglass floor had a tiny grid pattern so I then used a Porter Cable palm sander to remove the grit and remaining glue. Use 100 grit paper. Then acetone again to remove residue. Finally, YouTube instructions on how to install Seadek, that was very helpful. Good luck.