Bottom Paint Learning Experience

boughtabouy

boughtabouy

New Member
Jun 6, 2008
434
San Diego
Boat Info
Sea Ray 36 SD/Caribe DL12
Engines
Twin 496, 8.1 Horizon/Yamaha 40HP
Hi All,

We have an '08 36DB that's been in the water since Sept. of '09. The bottom paint is toast. I got a quote for a haul out, Clean, and Paint (with Interlux Ultra, 7mils thick) - $1368. When it was pulled out, I hear this:

"The bottom has quite alot (50%) of paint missing. These bare spots should be sanded with 80 grit and primed before we bottom paint. That is extra prep at $85 per hour plus materials. Our painter is estimating 6 hours per side or $1,020 plus estimated $270 in material"

I knew there were some bare spots, but didn't know that it was this bad. I've seen pics, and he is right. They are in some strange format, so I can't post them here unfortunately.

Anyone ever heard of this? Is the prep necessary? They claim it is, or the paint might not stick. Is there a possiblity that Sea Ray did a cheap paint (or prep) job? I have heard of other similar situations, where MM picked up some of the tab because of this. Maybe passed on to SR.

Well, lesson learned! Diver instructions: let me know as soon as bare spots are visible, and get it hauled out and painted. This one is going to cost me double. Now I know...:smt021

Kevin
 
What was the original bottom paint SR put on at the factory? I have an '08, and have Petit Hyrocoat, which is what I thought all of their boats in this class got. If so, I'd think a quick 80 grit sand, and reapplication of Hydrocoat would be enough, no primer needed. I don't think the bare spots should be sanded too rigorously, if at all.
 
That price is cheap. It cost me $3,800 which included sandblasting the old paint off and putting on a barrier coat to do my old Sea Ray 320 and $2,600 for my new 26.5' boat that did not come bottom painted from the factory.
 
Your yard is correct. If you have bare spots, then the surface must be properly prepared or the new paint will not adhere. However, you aren't done yet..................


Sea Ray uses a paint system that keeps them legal and out of trouble with OHSA and the Florida DEP. The bottom surface is chemically prepped and one coat of paint is sprayed on the bottom. At best, it is a one year bottom coating because it is thin. This isn't something to criticize Sea Ray about since they are doing all they can given the environmental restrictions they must work under. This means that the entire bottom of your boat, not just the bare spots, needs to be properly prepared for the new paint before you do anything. If you don't sand the whole bottom, you will likely face an adhesion problem between the old paint and the new bottom paint and you will very likely see more bare spots in a few months. Prior surface prep and different paint chemistry between the original water based paint and Interlux which is solvent based is the issue you are combating.

You have gotten about 3X the normal life of factory bottom paint out of yours........I seriously doubt you are going to get any help on this one. If you do it will likely be a good will accommodation from your dealer if you bought the boat new from him.

Whatever you do, don't let the yard just paint over the old paint. It must be sanded to the point where you can see white thru 70-80% of it. If you do paint over it, you will be redoing the bottom in 9 months to a year. A properly perpared and painted bottom job is a lot more than rolling on paint. The cost for a good 3 year bottom job here on the Gulf Coast is something like $65/ft.


Also, you need to have a "come to Jesus" meeting with your diver or find a different one. It is hard to believe he's been cleaning a bottom with 1/2 the bottom paint missing and he never even mentioned it to you.
 
My previous boat was a 370 Carver, it was painted in Walkers Cay Bahamas in 1999 with the stuff we cant get here. It lasted 10 years.

My point is if I were you I would take a cruise to Mexico to get the bottom done.
 
The application of Hydrocoat states to sand lightly with 80 grit and paint. No other mention of extra prep involved. That is what i did and no issues. I had Hydrocoat on from the factory and I agree it was thin as delivered.
 
fwebster said:
Your yard is correct. If you have bare spots, then the surface must be properly prepared or the new paint will not adhere. However, you aren't done yet..................


Sea Ray uses a paint system that keeps them legal and out of trouble with OHSA and the Florida DEP. The bottom surface is chemically prepped and one coat of paint is sprayed on the bottom. At best, it is a one year bottom coating because it is thin. This isn't something to criticize Sea Ray about since they are doing all they can given the environmental restrictions they must work under. This means that the entire bottom of your boat, not just the bare spots, needs to be properly prepared for the new paint before you do anything. If you don't sand the whole bottom, you will likely face an adhesion problem between the old paint and the new bottom paint and you will very likely see more bare spots in a few months. Prior surface prep and different paint chemistry between the original water based paint and Interlux which is solvent based is the issue you are combating.

You have gotten about 3X the normal life of factory bottom paint out of yours........I seriously doubt you are going to get any help on this one. If you do it will likely be a good will accommodation from your dealer if you bought the boat new from him.

Whatever you do, don't let the yard just paint over the old paint. It must be sanded to the point where you can see white thru 70-80% of it. If you do paint over it, you will be redoing the bottom in 9 months to a year. A properly perpared and painted bottom job is a lot more than rolling on paint. The cost for a good 3 year bottom job here on the Gulf Coast is something like $65/ft.


Also, you need to have a "come to Jesus" meeting with your diver or find a different one. It is hard to believe he's been cleaning a bottom with 1/2 the bottom paint missing and he never even mentioned it to you.
Click to expand...



Great insight Guys!

Yes, it was an original factory SR job. Interesting to know the details on that job from SR. I'm still going to take a run at MM - it's worth a try. I did buy the boat new from MM. I'll check with the boat yard on just sanding the whole boat, although I think they make some sort of warranty on the whole bottom job. I need to find out what that is.

Regarding the diver...when the boat goes back in the water, she's going to have a different diver. Not because I didn't get a warning on the bare spots (I did here that there were some, but I didn't hear that half the paint was gone), but because I caught him replacing 80% good zincs.

In any case, it sounds like the first paint job after the original factory SR job is just going to be EXPENSIVE no matter what. If their paint must be removed before the new paint is applied, maybe it's better to let it come off in the water like I did. Less sanding time...

Thanks for the comments,

Kevin

Kevin
 
No.........the idea isn't to just remove the original paint, but to sand the bottom so the Interlux paint has a "tooth" to adhere to since the factory paint is applied to new, unblemished gelcoat with a chemical prep. With 50% paint coverage or less, you are going to spend your self into the poor-house paying divers to keep the boat clean enough to run. You will also never get a yard to warranty the new paint past one year unless you sand the hull, and you are using a very good and expensive bottom paint that I've typically gotten 3+ year out of here.
 
Factory bottom paint will last longer in certain types of water than it will in others. My 260DA sits in the water year round and is still on it's original bottom paint six years later. It gets touched up by me as needed. The majority of the paint on the hull bottom is original but I think this will be the last year before the entire bottom needs to be re-done. In my case re-doing it with a fresh coat of Pettit Hydrocoat Ablative makes a lot of sense because of my positive experience with this paint in our lake waters.

As Frank mentioned Sea Ray originally sprayed the hull (without first sanding it) with something that allowed the Hydrocoat to stick to it. As such when it wears off the gel coat is shiny underneath and that's why it needs to be sanded first to allow new bottom paint to bond to it. And certainly if you are changing over to another brand the old stuff needs to come off completely. And even though it is not necessary to remove the old bottom paint if you are re-coating with Pettit, the directions on the can still say to sand the old bottom paint first and apply two coats of the new paint.

I would also think that using an Ablative bottom paint is not a good idea if you are regularly having the bottom cleaned by a diver since some of this paint will come off each time the bottom is washed.

Dave
 
I've been down the path of flaking bottom paint. To put paint on this year, sanding and re-coating will work. The down side is that you may be here again same time next year.

I sanded very year for our first three years. Finally I had the bottom soda blasted when the cost of sanding part of the hull exceeded the cost of a full soda blast.

Following that the bottom was barrier coated with an epoxy and then top coated with hydrocoat. This spring all that was needed was an esthetic touch up along the waterline. The big expense of last year resulted in huge savings this year.

Henry


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Thanks Guys,

It looks like I will need to sand the entire bottom. At a cost of over $1300 estimated for half, I need to check on the cost of the soda blast. They didn't offer it, so I'm not even sure it they do it.

Maybe just redoing the bottom with Pettit Hydrocoat would make more financial sense...

Kevin
 
AT $65 an hour... is it worth the time it would take YOU to do it?

My wife and I sanded and painted the bottom of our boat, took a weekend, and $300 in paint. Arms were sore... but look at how much we saved in cash.
 
Id like to find a yard that charges $65.00 per hour all the yards around me are $100 to $119 per hour
 
It isn't that easy or always about the money. Here, you have to be a licensed applicator to remove and paint the bottom. The hard part is that you have to catch all paint dust and dispose of it in a hazardous materials land fill.
 
chandalen said:
AT $65 an hour... is it worth the time it would take YOU to do it?

My wife and I sanded and painted the bottom of our boat, took a weekend, and $300 in paint. Arms were sore... but look at how much we saved in cash.
Click to expand...

I would love to. Normally, I do everything myself. In this case, I'm 400 miles away from the boat.

Kevin
 
Believe me...I wish it were different. There are lakes around Phoenix, but WAY TOO HOT! Not for us...
 
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