Lotus Elan and Lotus Elan Plus 2 Forums

Having experienced soda blasting on my Sabra, I agree it is not the way to remove old paint, especially if the gel coat is very thin. In my case, the gel coat was as thin as cigarette paper, and the blasting process easily removed the coating along with the paint. With the gel coat removed, the bare fiberglass was exposed, and all of the small bubble cavities between the layup and the gel coat were opened up. Filling those cavities took more hours than I would care to count. Every time I thought I had all of them filled, and I applied the epoxy seal coat, I would find more. Each cavity had to be drilled out to make a crater so they could be filled.

On the early TVRs M series there is no Gel Coat. My 3000M vegetal blasted on difficult areas and hand rubbed down on flat panels.
Alan