A boat needs regular maintenance and this means cleaning and repainting or otherwise repairing the bottom or hull. If a boat has a lot of buildup on the bottom when it comes to algae or microscopic marine life, or if the paint is chipping or peeling away, you need to clean and resurface the bottom as soon as possible. This will keep your boat in good condition and prevent drag and resistance when on the water.

While it is possible to strip and sand a boat by hand or with the use of power sanders, you might note why sandblasting is often a better choice. This process uses a combination of water and silica to strip away anything cleaning to the boat's hull and prepare it for new paint. Note its advantages:

1. Time and effort

While you may be able to sand down a very small rowboat by hand within a matter of hours, trying to strip down a larger boat, even with power tools, can be very time-consuming. Remember that a boat is not like a flat piece of wood that you can simply sand down without concern; you need to ensure you work between each piece of the hull carefully and work against the chipping paint so it's properly removed. This adds to the time and effort it takes to otherwise sand down a boat's surface.

With sandblasting, the process is much faster as the sand gets into the small layers of a boat's hull and removes the chipped paint easily, so that it's removed quickly. You can have your boat ready for resurfacing in much less time; in turn, it will be ready to hit the water in less time than if you tried to do this job by hand.

2. Precision

Trying to sand down your own boat with power tools and getting a precise finish can also be difficult as this precision will be based on the amount of pressure you apply with your sander. With sandblasting, this precision is much easier to achieve as the amount of silica versus water in the mixture can be adjusted. The more silica, the stronger the abrasion; for lighter work, the mixture will contain more water. This can reduce the risk of damaging your boat's hull with a sanding job that is too rough or having to go over the surface again and again because you did not apply enough pressure with your first application of the sander.