JJ,

Does the marina accept any of this liability - or the soda blasting contractor?... Insurance?... Seems you pay them to store your boat and you expect some level of security and responsibility on their part - wouldn't you?... You're getting a bad start for the second year in a row!... Last year the gas tank - and now this... Good Luck getting that mess cleaned up... Danny

The black stain will come off the fiberglass. At least it did on mine several years ago. After trying a multitude of cleaners & solvents; I was given a small quantity of Collinite Fiberglass Cleaner. It was the "ONLY" thing that worked for me. I was given some cleaner by a detailer working in the yard & was told that if it didn't do the job nothing will. It didn't & I figured I would have to get the boat painted. Collinite saved the day....at least for me !!

Dan-I have been in contact with all the parties involved and everyone is pointing a finger in a different direction. I am waiting for a call back from my counsel. I have already made dozens of calls, I am sick of trying to follow up and handle someone else's problem. I agree we should not have to anything about this. I am seriously considering a new marina as are some of my friends there.

Bob-The stains are multi-colored. Depending on what color dust landed where since there were multiple layers of bottom paint that were different colors. Some blue, some black, some green. We have tried pretty much everything. Problem is the boat owner and soda blaster have not wanted to do anything about it yet so it has been sitting on the boats for over three weeks. We have tried several things, oxalic acid, Mary Kay On/Off, cleaners, compounds (both over the counter and 3M professional products) including Collinite and NOTHING is taking it off. What makes it even harder is the amount of non-skid areas on both boats that really makes it a PIA to clean. Painting is really not an option in our minds since it significantly lowers the value of a new boat.

Use 3M heavy duty marine compound with a high speed wheel. Must be a high speed wheel or it wont work. I am 100% positive it will work on any fiberglass stains. What marina are you in?

Joe, you must have a bad luck magnet. For a guy that is as meticulous with his boat as you are some crazy crap sure happens to you

Sorry to hear about this Joe. This to me looks like it could also be an environmental issue which would put pressure on everyone involved including the Marina.

So sorry Joe to here this.But Soda Blasting Baking Soda can be an environmental issue.Outside plants and flowers should be covered also.The residue will kill them.

WOW that sucks! I hope you get it worked out. I would agree that a high speed wheel should take it off since it actually removes a thin top layer of gel. If the residue was somehow able to penetrate deeper like a true stain, than that's a much bigger problem. The other problem is that it looks like you have a waffle style deck grip. If you try and compound that with a wheel, it's going to take considerable gel off of the "peaks" of the pattern and probably not be that effective on the "valleys". I'd say that's a manual labor job there.

When I used to do a lot of paintwork and something got overspray on it, we used to use a paint pre-cleaner that is normally used for removing wax. R-M's was called Pre-Kleano. It's not a super aggressive solvent, so it won't bite into the gel. The bad part is that if it wasn't "fresh" overspray, it would take ton of rubbing to remove it.

I hope your Marina stands by you! Good luck- Eric

this sucks...i see stuff like this all the time...shady fly by nite techs,no insurance,spilling toxic chemicals...i see shady fly by nite fiberglass guys,same deal,no insurance...the soda blasters are liable,end of story...if the marina let them in with no insurance,they're liable too...
everyone should remember these pictures,next tiem you hire someone to work on your boat,you want to see a certificate of insurance,call the company listed on the certificate,see if it's valid-no insurance ? don't allow them to work on the boat...

sorry to hear about this joe, damm, one more reason to keep mine in the driveway

Wow, what a mess, looks like a lot of work, hope they make things right for ya.

JJ,
Try the powder cleaner from Boatlife. It's called Fiberglass Powder Cleaner & Stain Removal. Not sure whats in it, but it takes everything of the hull and the deck. I had some soda blastng residue on mine and it came right off.

Any updates on this Joe?

Not yet.

Much to my surprise yesterday while on our way back to the marina from Lacey Marine and the Lacey Elks Flea Market I get a call from a buddy that the soda blaster showed up and was starting to wash our boats.

Were were about 5 minutes out so we had him stop and wait for us to get back. After speaking with him and getting a copy of what looked to be a real insurance policy (to be verified first thing Monday morning) he began working on Tommy's boat. It actually came out really good but it took him and his two sons all day.

He is supposed to clean mine today, going to call down to Tommy and find out if they are there yet. If all goes well I will will be headed down on Tuesday splash the boat.

Good news Joe

Hope it works on your too!

Just got a call, he is there now and working on it...fingers crossed.

That's great news Joe and if all it takes is a real good scrubbing that's even better news!!!

Pat

I wasn't there yesterday so not sure what it took. But on Tommy's boat they spent about 3 hours in the cockpit alone!

Short answer...I am in the water, boat ran great, the wheel reconditioning was fantastic. Detailing job was botched just like the he did on the bottom of the other boat. Will have to come back out for my own detailer to do the job right and most likely go to court.

OK, got some work out of the way and can post a full, report. Got down to the marina at 8 am to find the boat in very disappointing state. The stains were about 60% removed. About half the boat was still covered with rubbing compound that was not buffed out and the residue washed off. There were compound splatters all over the windows, railings and other parts of the boat. Some of the manufacturer logos, pin striping, reg numbers and other decals were burned off or damaged from the polishing wheel. About 3/4 of the waterline had compound and polish along it about 4" wide, I had already touched up the waterline so it needed to be sanded off and re-touched up.

I spoke with marina and others and we decided to redo the bottom and put the boat in and haul out in a few weeks and have the boat cleaned by a professional. I gave the guy a chance to do the right thing as per his wishes despite my reservations. I am done playing games after waiting almost a month for a less than marginal job.

On to the shakedown run...she was an absolute beast! I had the wheels reconditioned and about 2" of pitch taken out of each wheel on the recommendation from jawz. The shop did a great job of taking my WOT info, make model, year and spec of the motor and getting me to where I need to be with the boat fully loaded. Previously I only got 4,250 RPM at WOT with full fuel, gear, ice, bait and crew. Now I get 4,950 with full gear, fuel and crew. Did not load ice and bait but shouldn't loose that much RPM from another 10-80 lbs. The boat jumped right out of the water as compared to before, came out of the water more when on plane. Throttle response was huge compared to before, no more hesitation at all. I also gained about a knot at cruise and almost 2 knots at WOT. The ride and sound from the motor is much, much smoother now as well. According to the scans the wheels were out a little but what a huge difference after being balanced on the computer.

The wheel shop and jawz also anticipate a big savings in fuel, possibly doubling my 1.5nmpg to close to 3nmpg. I was happy with the 1.5 but if we do really see numbers closer to 3 it will make us much more comfortable running off for tuna this year and dipping into the last 1/3 of a tank to come home.

JJ,
Sorry to hear the guy did not make good on his promise. I know it can be frustrating, especially on a almost new boat that you take very good care of. Try to be optimistic that it will work out in the end.

I'm surprised to see how well your freshly tuned prop is performing. I would have thought the difference would have been slight, I guess I was wrong. I guess you will be heading to the canyons this summer..

I hope so, she was washed, waxed and covered going to bed gleaming and new and emerged dirty and neglected looking.

Not sure about the canyons but if the economy does go up the Chicken, Resor, Bacardi and Texas Tower will be considered.

That and 30-35 gallon trips to the mud hole will be really sweet!

Glad to hear everything worked out okay. It's a great feeling the shakedown run first time out in the spring.

Great on your shake down.

Hope you get the "cleaning" squared away at his expense!!!

Sorry to hear about the clean up Joe. I had a feeling this would be the case. Personally, I don't think I would have let him touch my boat since he was the guy that was careless to begin with. I have quite a bit of experience with the "wheel" and when I first started, I got my chops busted for doing exactly what you describe. The old guys called it "learn while you burn". You can do a lot of damage quick if you're not that experienced. Did the other guy's boat turn out any better?

Good to hear the props are working well though. It's amazing what a good combination can do to the numbers! By the way, isn't the Texas tower only a few miles short of the Hudson? I'd be way too tempted to try and make it to the edge if I was that close!

Tommy's looks better for the most part but we were both there while he worked on that one. Plus it is Albemarle which is a cream color, mine is bright white so it shows imperfections more.

If I didn't have such aggressive non-skid I would have ground it down and redone the decks with Perfection and beads in light gray. The glare is brutal if you forget your sunglasses.