Bottom paint on new Sea Rays....your experiences?

D

Dave S

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Oct 3, 2006
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Upstate South Carolina
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The bottom paint that Sea Ray uses on new boats is only supposed to last for a year. That's what Sea Ray will tell you too if you ask.

I was wondering whether any of you would care to comment on how yours held up. Did anyone get more than a year of service out of their paint?
 
Dave,
They use an ablative paint, which is designed to wear off with use.
I've been using a Petit ablative for years, but usually do add a thin coat every spring. I did sneak by one season with just touching up the water line on my '96, but hadn't used her much the previous season.
You do in fact want to use ablative, as the other types build up and need to be scraped and sanded. When you apply it, use only a 1/8" nap roller. I goofed the first year, and put it on too thick. :smt101 Just a very thin coat will do. :thumbsup:
 
Sea Ray has always used a good quality bottom paint. Years ago, we could get 2-3 years our of factory paint, but they began spraying the paint and because of mandated compliance with OSHA regulations, the amount of paint......and particulate emmissions....had to b e reduced. Figure 12 months out of factory paint now. If you get more, you are one of the lucky few. At a year, you may still have some paint working and maybe you can stretch it some longer, but most people get fed up with how crappy their boat looks before they begin seeing substantial growth.

When it is time for your first bottom job, don't cut corners by slapping on another coat of paint. Do a full bottom job including sanding the hull till you see a lot of white, then priming it with the surface preparation and primer recommended for the bottom paint you select. There are several good brands of paint, but in our area almost everyone uses Interlux because they make a great paint system and have superb technical service guys to help if you need it. You should verify compatibility between the Sea Ray paint and whatever paint system you select before starting.

Ablative paints do wear away, but contrary to conventional thinking, it does build up. The reason is because slime or scum effectively covers the ablative surface and seals the paint. If your painted area feels slick or slimey, the paint is sealed and your paint is not wearing away. If you clean and repaint, you are building up paint. This works for a while, but sooner or later you will need to sand the bottom till you see a lot of white and then prime and repaint again.
 
Sea Ray factory bottom paint is Pettit Hydrocoat, a user friendly water based ablative paint. It has scored very well in the last two bottom paint tests done by Powerboat Reports and is very reasonable. I use it in fresh water and it is great. I am not a fan of hard paints and Hydrocoat is one of the best values out there.
 
Frank

It looks to me like my bottom paint is rolled on rather than sprayed. But because they don't sand the bottom, I have noticed a few spots where it's come off. Sea Ray has already authorized touch up which I'll go ahead with. After five months in the water though, it still looks very good otherwise. That's why I was curious if maybe it will last longer.

Dave
 
If it is rolled on and is coming off in places, I'd bet your boat was painted at the dealer and not the factory. But it doesn't matter, except that you probably have more paint on the boat if it was rolled on so you may get more than a year out of the original paint.

If the dealer is going to touch up the bottom, I'd pay the cost for a pressure wash and repainting the waterline while the boat is out of the water. You can likely stretch another year or more out of the paint if you do.
 
Frank,
My bottom paint looks rolled to ... IT looks like a checker board.

Some area's are much darker then others. But there is no sling pattern ... just patch's ... and i dont wantto know why.... im afraid.

The bottom paint on the currect boat held up much better. The 34 always had entire areas where paint would not stay . Dealer sanded and primed... still came off..

I also found the current bottom paint did not effectively control growth... Boat got alot action but yet as the water warmed... the scum line was very pronounced... but was not on other boats around me . It cleaned off with a brush no problem... Never had growth before though...

my 2 cents.

Rob
 
Properly applied, you should be able to go two seasons or more with a good ablative paint. Many paints are not properly applied. My last two SRs were painted by the dealer and I'm sure the SR factory does a better job today. I ended up taking the SRs down to gelcoat, applying a tar based barrier coat and a good abblative paint that got renewed every two years. With the current boat, there is a vinylester resin base with a bright yellow base coat on top of it , followed by two coats of Awlgrip abblative paint. These were applied in 2004. The paint still looks good. There is no yellow showing anywhere, but I will paint the smile this year and recoat a year from now. Acid washes discolor paint, but you can make this cosmetic issue go away just by painting the part that shows. Once you you run the boat, the acid damage that remains will go away as the paint wears off on the rest of the boat's bottom.
 
I thought only larger boats were bottom painted at the factory? Certainly a 260DA would be painted at the dealer? If that's true then there is no telling what type of paint they used at the time.
 
If the boat is original to the area, the dealer may know what paint is on it. He may be the one who sold and painted the boat originally. After frogging around with two bad dealer paint jobs, I learned to start over. I nursed my 30 through 3-4 years of cleaning an repainting before I blasted the bottom with walnut shells and started over. The bottom looked great when I sold it four years later. When the 37 went south after one season, I did the same thing. Dealers can cut corners. I had the marina where I store do both follow up jobs knowing it would be done properly. Having the job done the proper way saves money in the long run.
 
It's a factory paint job. As a matter of fact it's required if you order a colored hull. You can check the Sea Ray configurator to confirm this if you want.

My question really centered on whether I can get more than a year out of my paint. I get virtually no growth on the bottom primarily because the boat gets used every week year round. Right now after five months use it looks like it may last longer than 12 months..........but who knows. :huh:
 
Dave,
Mine was painted at the dealership, and when I powerwashed it at haulout, I removed a good portion of the paint, as it now shows faded splotchy remnants of black. I intent to recoat in the spring before launch, and consider it part of yearly maintenance.
Frank, you are correct, in that ablative can, and does build up, as I have experienced.
The bottom line is a minute coating that will wear off with use. The exact formula is different for everyone, depending on use.
 
for thier own good, any shop will tell you that a year is the limit.

different water, different usage, frequency of use, speed , how much sun at the dock, etc... all factor in.

a shop wont take the chance and tell you a few years, then if it ends up being a problem they look bad.

experiment and see what happens with your usage.
 
My boat was also painted at the factory and delivered to the dealer with several sections rubbed off during transport (down to the white gelcoat. This being my first bottom-painted boat, is the paint supposed to rub off when the boat is trailered? In any event, my dealer touched-up the problem areas last week.
 
Some builders apply one coat of bottom paint at the factory. When the boat is delivered, the dealer adds the second coat so you don't have the problem of paint rubbing off during shipping. Obviously, the boat should be secured properly in the first place so there is little or no damage, but stuff happens.
 
Dave - My factory bottom paint held up very well after floating for 5 months in fresh water. Mine adhered really well with only minor touch up required before the spring dunk.
 
Dave, I have the typical Pettit Hydrocoat bottom paint also. We are in the water mid to late May until October 1 around here. I am still just doing a touch up of spots in the spring. It has held up well and comes clean in the fall without alot of effort. I will probably get one more season before a repaint. I will be working on my 4th "season" this year.
 
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