Well, the weather was decent today (40 degrees) so I decided to bite the bullet and sand the bottom after trying many different methods to removing the bottom paint. Only took 4 hours to do the port side. One guy, one orbital sander and two numb arms.
This is what the port side looked like too (I didn't get any before shots). Then how it turned out. Next week I'll do the other side than pull it off the trailer to get the rest unless I can get my hands on some boat stands sooner.
