Bottom paint-Skip a year??

[Sea Ray Mark]

Would it be a mistake to NOT recoat my bottom paint this year? I've alway used Interlux Fiberglass Bottomcoat on my boats and every year I would put a thin fresh coat of paint on the boat in the spring and I've always done it myself. I do everything myself. This winter I'm keeping my boat at my home marina and they don't allow anyone to do thier own paint so I have to pay them about $450 plus materials to do the work. I was thinking about not painting the bottom and instead have the boat hauled out and power washed in August to see what the bottom looks like. The marina offers a haul out special in August that would cost me about $125 including the power wash. Has anyone ever done something like this with a hard type bottom paint? Is this a stupid idea? Be honest, I can take it:thumbsup: Mark

 

[tobnpr]

You won't be able to get away without a bottom job in the spring- hard (epoxy) antifouling can't be hauled and relaunched after an extended period out of water; it loses it's effectiveness.

However, if you switch to a multi-season ablative next year you'll be able to do that in the future.

 

[sbw1]

We use Alwgrip abblative paint in cool fresh water. It needs to be renewed every other year. We do recoat the water line and smile every season because the acid wash discolors it. Local conditions rule when it comes to bottom paint. I do think you will be better served with a high quality abblative product. Making the switch will require a lot of prep work, but once you convert, you will be happy with how little effort is required to keep things looking good.

 

[Sea Ray King]

I painted my bottom(boat) at the beggining of the 2007 season with the recommended solution from Interlux.

1 - Lay down numerous coats of their Interprotect 2000E barrier coat (bottom never painted and clean when I purchased it)
2 - Lay down 1 coat of a very bright color of Micron Extra paint. I chose green
3 - Lay down 2 coats of the final color of Micron Extra paint.

They then told me I will only have to touch up once in a while whenever you see green showing through. I pulled the boat the end of last season and had to touch up one spot which was were the boat stand was and I probably skimped. I pulled the boat last week after the second season in the water and don't see any spots of green. I also must say, their is not one barnacle on the bottom. My trim tabs are another story.

Good Luck!
MJK

 

[fwebster]

Everyone has their own formula, but I use the best ablative Interlux paint I can find.....kind of bottom paint de'jour. I haul out every winter to check the bottom and zincs and touch up the waterline and hardware. This time we got 3 years out of the bottom paint.

The problem I see with your method is paint buildup. At some point you are going to be faced with a major expense (chemical strip, soda, sand or walnut shell blasting) to remove all the dead hard paint and start over.

As soon as I could, I'd switch to ablative paint as tobnpr suggested.

 

[tobnpr]

Frank makes a good point. Last Nov. the bottom job on my boat failed-pulled away from the hull- due to so many years of buildup. Many thousands $$ later she's good as new after hull sandblasting and barrier coating... but that's an exercise to avoid if you can.