We strip years of built-up antifouling, barnacles, and failed bottom paint down to clean gelcoat — gelcoat-safe, mobile to your boatyard or marina, and ready to barrier-coat.
Boat bottom paint removal is the process of stripping years of built-up antifouling, barnacles, and failed coatings off a hull bottom down to clean, bare gelcoat — without gouging or burning the laminate underneath. In Southwest Florida that buildup happens fast. Warm Gulf water, heavy fouling, and annual repaints stack coat on coat until the bottom is rough, heavy, and starting to flake. We blast all of it off in one mobile visit so your hull is clean, fair, and ready to barrier-coat and re-paint.
We come to you — your boatyard, marina, or storage lot anywhere from Naples to Fort Myers. Call or text (239) 227-1768 and we'll get your bottom job started right.
SW Florida is one of the harshest fouling environments in the country. Warm, nutrient-rich Gulf water grows barnacles, slime, and grass on a hull year-round, so most local boats get re-painted every season. The problem is that each new coat usually goes right over the old one. After a few years you're carrying a thick, brittle stack of antifouling — sometimes a dozen layers — that adds weight, slows the boat, and eventually loses its grip and sheets off in chips.
Once paint starts flaking, sanding or re-coating only buys a little time. The right move is to take it all the way back to gelcoat and start clean. Media blasting removes that entire built-up stack in a fraction of the time hand sanding would take, and it gets into corners, the keel, and the running gear pockets that a sander can't reach. From there your bottom is a known surface again — fair, sound, and ready for a proper marine coating system.
Yes — when it's done right, media blasting is gelcoat-safe and a far gentler way to remove bottom paint than aggressive sanding or harsh chemical strippers. The key is matching the media and pressure to the surface. For fiberglass and gelcoat hulls we use softer, controlled media such as crushed glass or soda at the right pressure, so the abrasive lifts the paint without cutting into the gelcoat or opening up the laminate.
That's the difference between a blasting crew and a guy with a sandblaster. Too hard a media or too much pressure will burn a hull. We dial it in for your specific layup, and on delicate jobs we lean on soda blasting or dustless (wet) blasting to keep things cool and gentle. The result is a uniformly clean, lightly textured surface that primer and barrier coat love to grip.
Stripping the bottom is the only way to truly see what's underneath, and blasting exposes blisters and moisture problems that paint had been hiding. Once the hull is bare, every blister, void, and soft spot is right out in the open where it can be evaluated and addressed. If you've been chasing a mystery drag problem or bubbles popping through fresh paint, a clean bottom usually tells the story fast.
For boats with osmotic blistering, getting back to bare gelcoat is step one of any real repair. We can blast the bottom clean and open the affected areas so the laminate can dry out and your repair shop can grind, fill, and fair. When the hull is sound and dry, it's ready for a fresh barrier-coat system that actually seals out moisture. Not sure what you're dealing with? Send us a photo or call (239) 227-1768 and we'll talk it through.
The whole job happens on-site at your boat, so you don't have to haul it across the county to a specialty shop. Once your boat is blocked up on stands or a trailer at a boatyard, marina, or your own property, we mask and protect the boot stripe, hardware, and topsides, then blast the bottom paint off in a controlled, methodical pass. We work the hull, keel, and running gear pockets until everything is down to clean gelcoat.
Because we use containment and can run dustless setups, we keep the mess down and play nice with neighbors and marina rules — important in tight SW Florida yards. When we're done you've got a fair, primer-ready bottom and a clean work area, ready to hand straight to your bottom-paint crew or your barrier-coat application. We serve boaters across Naples, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Estero, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Golden Gate.
Most recreational hulls — say a center console, cruiser, or sailboat in the 20 to 45 foot range — can be blasted clean in a single working visit, often the same day. Heavily built-up bottoms with a dozen-plus coats of antifouling take a bit longer than a hull with only a couple of seasons on it. Once you describe your boat and the buildup, we'll give you a realistic time and price. Call or text (239) 227-1768.
No, not when the media and pressure are matched to your hull. We use controlled, gelcoat-safe media such as crushed glass or soda at the correct pressure so the abrasive lifts the paint without cutting into the gelcoat or laminate. That's a far safer approach than heavy hand sanding, which can burn through gelcoat in a hurry, or chemical strippers that can soak in. On delicate hulls we use soda or dustless blasting to keep it gentle.
Yes. Blasting strips barnacles, slime, grass, and the calcium scale they leave behind right along with the bottom paint. In Southwest Florida's warm Gulf water, fouling builds fast, and a pressure wash alone rarely gets it all. Media blasting takes the hull down to a uniformly clean surface in one pass, so you're not fighting leftover crud when it's time to re-paint.
Yes — we're fully mobile across SW Florida and work on-site at boatyards, marinas, storage lots, and private property. As long as your boat is blocked up safely on stands or a trailer, we bring the equipment to you. We use containment and dustless options to keep the mess down and stay within marina rules. We serve Naples, Marco Island, Bonita Springs, Estero, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Golden Gate.
After blasting you'll have a clean, fair, lightly textured surface that's primer- and barrier-coat ready. If the hull is sound and dry, your crew can move straight into a barrier-coat system and fresh antifouling. If we exposed blisters or moisture, the laminate should dry and be repaired first — blasting is what makes that work possible by getting you back to bare gelcoat.
Painting over a thick, aging stack of antifouling traps the failure underneath. Old coats lose their grip, chip off, and take your new paint with them, and all that buildup adds weight and drag. Stripping to bare gelcoat gives you a known, sound surface so the new system actually bonds and lasts. It's the difference between a bottom job that holds for years and one that's peeling by next season.
It depends on the hull. For fiberglass and gelcoat we favor softer, controlled media like crushed glass or soda so we remove paint without harming the surface. For tougher steel or aluminum hulls and running gear we can step up to a more aggressive media. We also offer dustless (wet) blasting, which keeps the surface cool and knocks down dust — handy in tight boatyards.
Call or text (239) 227-1768 and we'll get your mobile bottom job scheduled across Naples and Southwest Florida.
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