I began this morning with a hose, bucket, and strong detergent.  With a Scotch-Brite pad, I washed the entire hull to allow the detergent to clean the surface and begin to remove oils and grease and other contaminants.  In the transom photo below, you can see how differently the water reacts on the port side (washed and degreased) and the starboard side (untouched).

Once the degreaser/dewaxer arrived in the afternoon, I washed the entire hull with it, using a well-soaked rag to wash the surface and following with a dry rag to wipe off the solvent--and hopefully any dissolved wax or other contaminants.

Next, I prepared for the sanding ahead by arranging my materials, sanding equipment, and respiratory equipment, and then, in the hour that remained in the work day, decided to see what I had ahead of me.  With 40 grit paper, I started at the port quarter and began removing the layers of blue paint.  The paint was very tough and proved rather difficult to remove, but with the aggressive sandpaper I removed most of the paint, leaving a small amount behind to avoid oversanding with the coarse paper.  I sanded down as far as I comfortably could from the staging; later, I'll finish the low areas and beneath the counter from the floor.

To complete the paint removal, and begin the smoothing process, I switched grits to 80 and went over the entire area to remove the coarse sanding marks and to remove any remaining paint, exposing the gelcoat beneath.  The gelcoat featured fine crazing, but appeared--in this limited area, at least--to be in good condition.

Total Time on This Job Today:  2.25 hours

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