Cruising Yacht — Full Antifoul Strip Without Gelcoat Damage
A worked example of how a layered antifoul build-up would be stripped from a cruising yacht hull back to the barrier coat, without gelcoat scoring. Illustrative, not a completed job.
A worked example of how a layered antifoul build-up would be stripped from a cruising yacht hull back to the barrier coat, without gelcoat scoring. Illustrative, not a completed job.
The brief
A typical brief in this category: many years and several re-coats of antifoul have built up a textured, cracked surface on the underwater hull of a cruising yacht around 42ft. The hull is due for a full strip-back ahead of fresh barrier coat and antifoul. Sandblasting is on the table but risks gelcoat damage. Chemical strippers are often prohibited at the marina due to water-quality concerns.
Dry ice run on hardstand at the slipway is the non-abrasive alternative — no chemical run-off, and full flake-capture for compliant disposal.
How the work would run
For a hull of this size, antifoul layers can range from under a millimetre to well over a millimetre thick, depending on how the build-up has crested over the years. Layered cracking tends to make old antifoul brittle — easier to remove than freshly-applied paint, but more prone to flaking in large pieces.
Day 1. Setup, containment, and one side of the hull from the waterline down. Full ground-sheeting under the hull to capture antifoul flake for proper disposal — marina compliance requires zero water-borne flake. Pressure would typically be tuned around 100-110 PSI to cleanly break the antifoul layers without disturbing the underlying epoxy barrier coat.
Day 2. The other side and the underside, working from waterline down to the keel, section by section. The keel itself usually needs a tighter pattern — antifoul builds up thicker in the keel cavity, and the curvature slows coverage.
Day 3. Bow, stern, transom, and final cleanup, with hand-detail around through-hull fittings and the prop shaft. Ground-sheet flake collected and bagged for disposal.
What a job like this typically delivers
For a hull this size, a full strip back to a clean epoxy barrier coat finish over roughly three days is a realistic target, with no gelcoat scoring expected if pressure is kept in the ranges above — a shipwright’s close inspection would be the verification step, and it’s also the point where any osmotic blistering, if present, becomes visible.
Marina compliance is the secondary win in this category of job — zero flake into the water, with a disposal certificate as part of the handover pack. Most marina water-quality bylaws prohibit chemical stripping and tightly regulate sandblasting run-off; dry ice is positioned to clear both constraints. From there the yacht would go straight into fresh barrier coat application and a new antifoul system without delays for chemical washoff or air-drying.
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About this scenario. Dry Ice Blasters launched in 2026. This piece illustrates how a typical antifoul stripping job runs — drawn from industry-standard work patterns, our team's prior operator experience and equipment specs. Process, scope and outcomes reflect what you can expect when you book us. Documented customer jobs are marked "Case study" on the projects page.