Sodablasting paint and corrosion off akas

Due to corrosion and a botched paint job by the PO, I'd like to repaint my akas and xbars. Has anybody had theirs soda blasted? If so, did you have to remove the plastic parts (bungee nubs, etc)?

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Southwest Hobie Island Club
http://www.facebook.com/southwesthic

I just tape over or remove (which ever is easier) all non-metal parts and just hand sand and spray paint. Let us know how you do yours and how it works out.

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Hobie Island Sailing since 2006

dregsfan :
If it's an older boat the AKA bars I believe all the aluminum parts were painted, on the newer bars I believe everything is anodized so you wouldn't want to sand blast newer bars (soda blast might work ok though to prepare for painting or removing paint from the anodized bars if you really have to paint them). I cleaned up my anodized bars, then clear coated everything to try and make it all last longer. Actually what really has worked for me well is to wrap black 3M electrical tape ( make sure you get the good stuff like 3M 33)around the AKA bars (like they do bike handlebars), this has worked superior to anything else I have ever tried and can be replaced every couple years.
My opinion is if you have the older painted bars light sand blasting might work better than soda blast (paint will stick better).
There are companies out their that do powder coating and baked enamel finishes (which might last longer, and be more durable) Otherwise a good quality automotive type paint will be your best choice IMO (surface prep is everything) if you want it to last ( I would clear coat also).
The plastic parts can be masked with masking tape before blasting.
Bob

My bars are painted.

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Southwest Hobie Island Club
http://www.facebook.com/southwesthic

When I said sand blast I didn't mean sand like 100 mesh aluminum oxide like they use to blast bridges. I meant something like 200 mesh glass bead, most machine shops use this, so if you don't have a bead blaster you can take it to any small machine shop for a fee.
Mostly restoration places use soda or walnut blasting and
might be harder to find.
Bob

I pulled the xbars off today and am taking all the parts to a couple places to get pricing for blasting. If it's too much, I'll buy a Harbor Freight blaster and do it myself.

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Southwest Hobie Island Club
http://www.facebook.com/southwesthic

That's what I used to do I had a sand blaster head and a bucket. I would sweep off the driveway blast what i needed then swept the sand up and pour it back in the bucket through a screen. If you have a compressor that's the way to do it, doesn't cost anything except a bag of glass bead ( actually around here beach sand would probably work fine. I don't have an air compressor any more so I just go rent a scuba tank and use that, haven't tried sand blasting though. Most scuba shops carry the adapter you would need to run off your regulator. I do it all the time to fill up our life raft and just to have air around my garage. Typically it costs between $4 and $7 dollars to rent a tank.
Hope this helps
Bob