Using garnet blasting for marine equipment and boats

Some traditional methods of boat stripping can be hazardous to the environment, require time-consuming labor and pose a health risk to the person performing it by using toxic chemicals, harmful acids and hand scraping.

Utilizing a sandblasting method such as garnet blasting will alleviate these problems and leave your boat’s surface cleaner and prepared for refinishing and repair. Blast-stripping boats dramatically reduces the time that you need to prepare for refinishing, resulting in quicker maintenance turn-around time and lower costs.

Blasting the Hull of Your Boat

Prior to starting your boat blasting project, it is important to make sure you have all of the necessary safety equipment ready. To protect yourself and others around you from any debris, follow these steps:

1) Wear all appropriate protective gear – including overalls, gloves, goggles or a face shield as well as hearing protection

2) Choose your blast abrasive, such as garnet, glass beads or superoxalloy by 10XEM

3) Make sure that your boat has been dry-docked or brought onshore allowing it to dry out. 

To start the blasting process you will need a good quality pressure blaster, preferably with a 45-60 minute blasting time. 

Choosing the right blast media

The blasting media to be used will depend upon a few factors:

  • The composition of the boat’s hull
  • The amount of build-up on the hull
  • Whether the boat is used in fresh or saltwater

Superoxalloy form 10XEM

The unique characteristics of 10X abrasives combine to deliver high working speed, excellent surface finish, and lower abrasive consumption. The raw materials for 10X abrasives are sourced from the insulation industry, where minerals are melted at very high temperature and rapidly cooled to produce amorphous glass fibers. Engineers at 10X invented novel technology to extract byproducts from this process and uncovered an entirely new class of safe, durable, and fast-acting blasting abrasives.Choosing the right abrasive when finishishing your boat is an important decision and can be the most important part of your project.

Currently, KinetiX and EpiX are available from abrasive distributors around the US. If you don’t see a distributor near you, contact 10X and we will work with you to get you what you need. EpiX abrasive, which is best for precision applications such as powder coating and medical applications, is also available to purchase directly from the 10X Engineered Materials website.