Ballyeli

Sorry there will be a swing crane lifting it onto metal supports while I paint the base plate....."rocking" was probably a bad choice of words considering?

The swing lift and stands will be rocking at the time just for the underneath the blocks still scaley and zero coats of anything

So weather's been very lucky this time of year! I went with a load of Lowes , followed by 2 coats Primocon, then finally 3 coats blacking. I've to get it lifted to access the base plate under the wooden blocks but might be only about 4 hours before going into water....bad idea? Also any suggestions on the top paint? Can only see the toplac stuff suggested in other forums, and its available in one colour... but snow white isn't my style!! ?

So I launched into buying a narrow boat during covid when I thought I'd have plenty of time to take it slow and learn....fast forward it's dry docked getting cold and I gotta get this painted and back in the water asap. Base plate is solid after scale gone but needs some coating. There's rust and last small chips of last coating, I've hit it with a wire wheel for a few too many hours, Any tips on what to do for prep?...blasting is the obvious choice but absolutely isn't in the price range. Is rust converter a waste of time or even primer when using bitumen black?

Cupbrushs are great but this really is a learning experience patience is pretty crucial this is gonna be a long week, battery tools were waste of time good shout on gene and mains grinder! Pitting is a bit crazy on front so have a welder doing that and the seam, that scotch brite disc was actually great but only after the scale was brushed down to a minimum definitely only as a finish!

8mm think originally and about 5.2 in parts now 3.2 at seam don't get me wrong realistically replating is probably the way forward but I've about a €2k budget to get this painted and back in water. Worry about the proper job to be done after the Covid budget! Batteries on loan from various friends but not wrong about charging hoping to get more than an hours work in! Got 2 of these little bad boys out of the motor factors when getting the cup brush

Yes absolutely!! I really wish I read this before I went at it guys had about 20mins of battery life, had a small drill brush and a scotch brite disc for grinder. Got the seam somewhat clean but there's some pitting I have to find so I'm going at it again with 4 more batteries Saturday!

I recently bought a 40ft narrow boat steel hull, After getting it lifted and cleaned for a survey I discovered quite a lot of rust and a seam in the middle of the boat which needed filling and some pitting towards the front. I got onto a welder and to save some time and money was hoping ( in favour of sand blasting) to use a grinder with a flat plate to sand down hull and prep it for welding. Grinder is a dewalt battery 8000rpm and 180grit plate.....am I in any danger of eating through the steel and grinding it down too thin?