Please see attached two pictures from my Snapdragon 27 MKII. She is a single Keel Model

The actual waterline is really quite low. The green line in the drawing shows where the gelcoat of the hull changes from Blue for the Topside, to White for the under water area. The first 2" is painted white for the boot-top, and remaining underwater area in blue anti-fowl. I will take a picture showing where I have stripped the anti-fowl and boot top to see what was underneath.

The boot top at the bow is approximately 4-6" above the actual waterline, and about 1-2" at the transom.

A previous owner contacted me through my website to say he thought she was underweight by the way she was performing, and during the complete rebuild I have found bags of sand and stone in the bilges.

The keel is encapsulated. I got my head down into the bilges to see if I could see the top of the keel to see what it contains but it is well sealed. The only way I can think of getting in there is major surgery through the side of the keel or through the cabin floor.

UPDATE:
I measured in the barn this afternoon... The waterline is 5" lower than it should be half way along the hull... oh dear.

Antifoul Removal Products Undertest

International Paints have kindly offered to send me a sample of Interstrip AF: http://www.yachtpaint.com/gbr/diy/products/special-products/interstrip-af.aspx

Cirrus Systems Ltd have agreed to send me a sample of their RemovALL 620 product, which is biodegradable and non-toxic: http://www.cirrus-systems.co.uk/index.php/Marine-/-GRP.html

My gratitude goes to both of theses companies for helping me in my studies and being able to give me first hand experience of their products.

I am still waiting to hear back from Owatrol to see if they would be willing to provide any of their products for testing.

I have decided not to use Hempel's product http://miniurl.com/123820 as unlike the others it does not claim to be safe on glassfibre and gelcoat "Use with caution on glassfibre and plastics (may harm some thermoplasts)" so I would would rather not take the risk on my precious hull.

Anti-Foul Removal

Sorry it has been a long while! It has been the summer holiday here and I started a new job which I have been getting settled into.

I have started to remove the anti-foul from the hull of my Snapdragon 27 MKII and thought I would document the results here.

The first method I am trying is the Proscraper by www.gelplane.co.uk It has a vacuum attachment to collect the scrapings which is quite useful to keep the workshop floor clean. Sarah struggles a bit with it, it requires quite a bit of force from one hand pushing down whilst pulling with the other. I can work with it quite quickly stripping paint and primer down the bare gelcoat, but it gets tiring quite quickly.

It has gouged the hull quite badly in some areas where the hull is rounded and have rounded of the edges of the blade with a metal file to try to prevent this further.

I am going to upload a photo of the area on the skeg where anti-foul has been removed.

I am going to try and get samples for some chemical gelcoat safe anti-fowl removal products and will update my progress here. I am hoping this research will help with my Yacht and Small Craft Surveying qualification which I am currently studying.