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I am in the midst of restoring my 17 1984 Montauk & it is upside down as we speak.

Depending how many coats, removing the bottom paint is a bear. Especially the area abound the waterline.

I used a combination of scrapping & sanding with 80 grit. I used some stripper on the waterline, since that was very thick with years of coats. Be very careful as strippers can attack the gel coat & you'll end up having to repair that deterioration. I left the stripper on for less that 10 minutes each time (on the waterline only)

Minor bottom repairs I have repaired with Marine tex epoxy.

I will barrier coat over the complete (wet area) bottom.

I will anti-foul over the barrier coat ( barrier first sanded with approx. 120 grit)

If you can afford having it blasted, do so. It will save you enormous amounts of time & the remaining blasted surface is perfect for adhering the barrier coat. Since I am completely restoring & modifying my boat, I elected to spend the $700 quoted for blasting towards other modifications.

I am using products from Quantum 99, see geniusbucket dot com. I will be painting my hull & interior with their topcoat paints.