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I was out of boating for a couple decades and am not familiar with how Environmental Regulations have affected things for boaters. Here in Ohio, we have a, maybe, six month long boating season. When the weather starts getting nice, everybody goes out to the boat yard to touch up bottom paint, do whatever service, clean, etc.

I understand some marinas will now no longer allow boat paint removal or application on their properties. They blame the EPA.

Anybody have knowledge of this ... where things stand, where they're headed?

Will all boats have to be taken to a "clean room" to be stripped/painted?

Any advice welcomed.

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Bill -

Please be more specific in stating which marinas have stated they will no longer do paint removal onsite and why.

There are regulations regarding the removal of lead based paint, its handling and disposal, there is nothing on the EPA.gov site referencing marine paints.

Blaming the EPA sounds like an excuse. What is their actual problem?

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Phil many (not specific like Joe's Marina which will tell you nothing) marina's like Bill mentioned shy away from you scraping and sanding off old paint. Many if not all paints are poisonous and therefore yes the EPA has rules as applied to automotive paint shops.

A lot of marine yards also shy away from allowing this type work because the $100 grand plus yacht owners complain about the dust (colored) deposits they might get on their precious yachts requiring extra time to clean these good paying yacht customers. It is not just the lead based paints that pollute.

My last big paint job I wanted to do in a yard I couldn't due to some of the above reasons and the yard din't like the idea of residues being washed into the ground.
I ended up renting a empty building with concrete floor where I could clean and dispose of it properly. More expense but bottom line a lot less expensive than having a professional do it and the results were amazing (see pictures)

This picture is after compounding and waxing https://photos.app.goo.gl/btKlgnQU1uX...U1uXIFmop2 and as you can see un-acceptable.

After sanding the gelcoat https://photos.app.goo.gl/q1X878XTkBd...TkBdjwfiH2

All done https://photos.app.goo.gl/fNJlZhMernJ...ernJeoRM83

https://photos.app.goo.gl/J6x9dty1TUJ...1TUJZKCdC2

now of course a 32' boat like this is not done in a weekend after several prime coats, 3 top coats, barrier and anti fouling on the bottom, and all teak wood on deck took 8 weekends.

A professional job would have been $15K to $25K needless to say I did it for 1/10 of that with the same result including the transport.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/w5mGPCYW4sh...W4shmtZVn1