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After 30 minutes per side using 40 grit on a Dynabrade DA "air hog" sander (I use a 33 gallon compressor which has a hard time keeping up with the air demand) I got one side done, both sides without the transom took one hour. There were two coats of bottom paint on the boat (black over brick red) and both coats of paint were fairly thin and soft. The job is worse if there is more buildup of coats or if rock hard non-ablative paint has been applied. If the paint has a "smooth" feel it is likely ablative, where coarse textured dried-out looking paint may be much harder. Ablative paint gets smoother with use, non-ablative does not.