Boot Stripe Apostasy?

[Bob Owens]

I am about to do away with the red bootstripe on my CD27, probably for the first time in the boat's history. Although the waterline appears to be properly positioned, I have had it with grass and marine growth on red bootstripe the second half of the season, especially in the front half of the boat. Just spent over two hours scraping and sanding shell remains from the stripe. I've sanded the stripe and plan to cover it my blue bottom paint. Will the Cape Dory gods forgive me? Is there some aesthetically less drastic option?

[Neil Gordon]

Is there some aesthetically less drastic option?

You could just do a light scrubbing of the water line once a week or so before things attach. You might also paint the boot stripe with red anti-fouling paint.

Whatever you do, don't lose the line... there have been lots of threads about how to put the bootstrap back on.

[mahalocd36]

I like Neil's idea, if you are going to paint it with anti-fouling, at
least paint it red.

We ended up painting that white line between Mahalo's brown bottom and the red bootstripe with 'shark white' (which is really light gray) anti-fouling paint as it used to get pretty gross and green. Helps some. For the bootstripe we just clean it if it starts getting really gross, from the dinghy.

[Chris Reinke]

Don't feel bad.....I am repainting my entire CD hull in flag blue so the CD gods will be busy chastising me and probably will not even notice that you changed your boot color.

[s.v. LaVida]

After my first long voyage on LaVida, I did away with the boot stripe.

Anti-fouling all the way up kept the stripe line and kept my waterline cleaner.

The key to a cleaner waterline for me is to throw half of my spares overboard and limit crew to one bag of stuff. However that will never work and we'll always be down by the stern.

Nothing I have found keeps the "moustache" off the bow.

By the time I'd sailed from Lake Ontario to the Bahamas I had a nasty brown moustache, even after washing the hull many, many times. Only 3M cleaner/polish was able to take it off and return the paint to something akin to clean.

Rit

[Bill Cochrane]

Actually, the PO did as a couple have suggested...raised the waterline by bringing the antifouling paint over the bootstripe. This winter I raised it still more, and added a new bootstripe with a 3/4" gap between the bottom of the bootstripe and the AF. I have about 2-3" of unsubmersed AF paint with the boat lightly loaded (tanks partially full, no consumable stores or crew on board)

Awlgrip's Sable Brown (for the bootstripe) is a nice deep chocolate that seems in keeping with the CD's traditional scheme. I use Micron CSC extra for AF, which also comes in brown.

[Jack Carr]

That reminds me, I can't find brown bottom paint anymore. Bill mentioned Interlux's sable brown but I can't find that on the shelves anymore either. Brown paint must not be in fashion. Any ideas?

[Bill Cochrane]

But your typical chain marine stores don't carry it in stock.

the Sable (and I meant Awlgrip!, original edited) is a topside 2-part poly.

[bottomscraper]

See this post from last year:

http://www.capedory.org/board/viewtopic ... ttom+paint

Since I either missed the sale or they didn't have one this year we ended up buying Micron Extra in the brown from:

http://www.eboatworks.com/micron_extra.htm

I like Micron Extra but it is a bit pricey! If you want to try something less expensive I suspect a 75% red 25% black mix would yield something close to a standard brown.

[Joe Montana]

This is a question for Bob Owens -- or anyone else who has eliminated their boot stripe and brought the antifouling up to a white hull. Were you happy with the results?

I'm considering switching to the look shown in link below -- mainly because I've always liked this very traditional look. This Maine boatbuilder used "Petit Vivid Green."

I've used Micron CSC for years. Has anyone had any experience with Petit paints lately? I haven't used Petit for over 20 years. Do Downeast wooden boatbuilders know something we don't, or are they just hidebound?

http://knox.villagesoup.com/Community/s ... yID=150681

[mike ritenour]

Joe,

Its worked for me for a number of years now and I won't go back.

Rit

[Dick Kobayashi]

The PO of my 25D had red AF on the bottom and a 4 inch wide stripe of Brown AF above it. Looked like hell. I removed the brown AF and painted the area with a Brown Petit Easypoxy - no longer available. And in recent years have painted the stripe with a similar Epifanes product in a dark brown. In my waters I have not had any marine growth on the stripe except from algae which shows up in August which I can wipe away with about 15 minutes effort from my dingy.

Red bottom, Brown stripe, Linen (Sunbrella Color) Sail Cover and Sunguard on the Genoa - looks real nice and is simple to maintain.

Oh. And to raise the stripe an inch I placed two one-inch strips of tape above the stripe and peeled away the lower one - leaving a uniform one inch space to be painted all around the boat.

[Steve Laume]

As much as I believe in keeping things original, I couldn't do brown over brown on my baby. Raven has a black bottom as is appropriate for such a creature. I didn't want anything as mundane as red or blue for a stripe so I went with Petit Easy Poxy in burgundy. It has a good strong earthy look to it.

It is that white line that makes me crazy. It turns to brown scum by the end of my two year bottom painting cycle no matter what I do. It never gets a proper waxing and it is right at the water line. I have thought about getting rid of it but it makes things so easy when it is time to paint the bottom and boot stripe and it is very pretty. One piece of tape and if I am careful I can paint bottom and stripe at the same time. I fear if I moved the AF paint up and eliminated the white I might pull the boot stripe paint while removing the tape. I guess I shouldn't worry about this with good masking tape as I have done it on my dinghies often enough. It still means I would have to tape twice to paint the stripe and the bottom.

I really like the idea of a white AF stripe. It would make for a tremendous amount of masking to paint everything. A progressive approach might be the way to go. Next haul out, paint up to the boot stripe. Two years after that decide if I want to reinstate the white line with bottom paint and raise the upper margin of the boot stripe. That would be summer of 2012. I will bet I am pretty comfortable with no white stripe by then.

That Maine boat with no boot stripe is as pretty as she can possibly be. She would also look stunning with a finely painted stripe. The fact is she is so long and slender that she just doesn't need it. Kind of like a super model, even when not dresses in the finest I would image they would still be beautiful. I think our boats are also very beautiful but a bit fuller. God I know if I was talking about a woman I would have been in trouble a long time ago. I might still be. The point is the clothes or stripe can enhance a figure or hull shape. The stripe does have a slimming effect on our boats that serves them well.

I will be hiding behind a large stationary object now, Steve.

[Russell]

I'm considering switching to the look shown in link below -- mainly because I've always liked this very traditional look. This Maine boatbuilder used "Petit Vivid Green."

This is exactly how my boat is painted, no sheer stripe, no boot stripe and green bottom paint. I like it and have no plans to ever add a sheer stripe or boot stripe.

I used Petite Vivid Green initially, while I am not using Petite now, the green is almost identical, so this photo will give you a fair idea.

[Troy Scott]

Chris Reinke,

I think Neptune and his cohorts will be pleased with Flag Blue for your hull. I plan to use Flag Blue for my topsides, mint green (probably Micron Extra) on the bottom, probably Mediterranean White on the deck, with Cream nonskid. The only thing I'm not sure about is the stripes.