Bottom Paint - EVERY year!!!???

[D. Stump, Hanalei]

This might sound silly, but I was just wondering... Is it really necessary to repaint the bottom EVERY year? Last year, just before we purchased Hanalei, I had the yard paint the bottom with Interlux ACT fiberglas bottom paint(didn't cost me anything, it was part of the purchase agreement). It is an ablative, high copper paint. Watching the bottom through the season, she was in from April 3rd to October 30, she grew very little scum. I dove on her maybe in August, and used a scrub brush to very easily wipe off a very lite accumulation of basically algae. When she was pulled in October, the yard pressure washed her while she was still wet. Where the slings were, it was easy to remove the little bit of scum with some On & Off and a wet scrub brush once she was in the cradle.

Since I used an ablative paint, will it being out of the water for the winter affect the protective quality of the paint? I would think that since it is ablative, as soon as a little more wears off, it will be back to it's original protective quality. I suppose one might think that I am being somewhat CHEAP, but at $90 bucks a gallon, if it is not entirely necessary, why spend the time and money? $90.00 will buy some fine wine to be enjoyed by the crew after a hard day beating to weather!! What think you all??? Sometimes I think that the bottom paint issue is something like the "blue tarp" syndrome here in the Northeast, everyone pulls their boat in the fall and buys a brand new blue tarp to cover it with. The blue tarp guy is making a fortune!! Comments???

Dave Stump
Captain Commanding
s/v Hanalei CD-30

[Neil Gordon]

>>Is it really necessary to repaint the bottom EVERY year?<<

Nope. As long as there's paint, it's still working. One idea is to put a different color as a base coat. Then you know when the outer coat has worn away.

>>Since I used an ablative paint, will it being out of the water for the winter affect the protective quality of the paint?<<

Nope. You can paint in the fall if you want, and save the trouble of painting in the spring. <btw, *NOBODY* does this. <G>

>>... at $90 bucks a gallon, if it is not entirely necessary, why spend the time and money?<<

Part or the ritual!!! Like the day in mid March when I take the cover off... and climb into the cockpit for lunch.

Regards, Neil
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28 #167



neil@nrgordon.com

[Lee H. Hodsdon]

Dave,

I painted our 25D with CSC two seasons ago, after applying the Interlux 2000 barrier coat. I applied a base coat of red, then two coats of brown. Since that time I have had to apply paint along the water line, at the stem and the propeller aperature. The remainder of the hull still has a brown coat (no red showing) and the crud (a techincal term) buildup over a season is minimal.

Who said there was anything wrong with being cheap?

As a sidelight, how about this weather? Inside my boat shed it must be 60 degrees! I'll have to start tomatoes.

Sincerely,

Lee



lhodsdon@nh.ultranet.com

[Jerry]

This might sound silly, but I was just wondering... Is it really necessary to repaint the bottom EVERY year? Last year, just before we purchased Hanalei, I had the yard paint the bottom with Interlux ACT fiberglas bottom paint(didn't cost me anything, it was part of the purchase agreement). It is an ablative, high copper paint.

It's my understanding that Interlux ACT is NOT good from year to year whereas the Interlux Micron CSC IS. That is why CSC costs $50/gallon more than ACT. ACT is ablative but that just means you don't have a paint build-up from year to year. I know the Interlux paint chart explains the difference between the two paints, you might want to check it out.

[Carl Jones]

>>Is it really necessary to repaint the bottom EVERY year?<<

Nope. As long as there's paint, it's still working. One idea is to put a different color as a base coat. Then you know when the outer coat has worn away.

>>Since I used an ablative paint, will it being out of the water for the winter affect the protective quality of the paint?<<

Nope. You can paint in the fall if you want, and save the trouble of painting in the spring. <btw, *NOBODY* does this. <G>

>>... at $90 bucks a gallon, if it is not entirely necessary, why spend the time and money?<<

Part or the ritual!!! Like the day in mid March when I take the cover off... and climb into the cockpit for lunch.

Regards, Neil
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28 #167

Well, I can't resist getting my two cents in. I last painted the bottom of my CD30 five, (get that, 5 !!), years ago. She lays in Clear Lake, Texas, right off Galveston Bay. The water goes from brackish to salty, depending on how much rain we've had. Last summer, we didn't have much rain. We are about 20 miles from the salty Gulf of Mexico. She stays in the water 12 months a year. It doesn't freeze down here.
I put on two coats of Interlux UltraCoat, which has very high copper content. I scrub the bottom about three times a year. (Lately I've hired a diver to do it. He only charges about $50 and also changes the zincs.) The bottom has stayed in great shape with very little growth. The only place I get a little algae is right below the waterline.
When I had my first boat, I believed all the magazines and books that said you have to do a bottom job every year. But every time I did one, I noticed that the bottom was still in good shape. Hmmmm! Now I might be a little slow, but eventually I catch on, and I stretched it out to two years, then three years, etc.
I'm hauling my boat this spring because she needs a cutlass bearing, and when I do I will do a bottom job. But the bottom is still good.
I have a theory about blisters that links to bottom jobs. I might be wrong, but it is a theory. Everytime you have the bottom paint taken off with a grinder, you are subject to lose some of the thin layer of gelcoat, especially when it is done by minimum wage yard laborers. Now, gelcoat is not impermeable to water but, the more the merrier. It's all we've got. So, why subject your hull to this treatment unnecessarily? If your bottom is still good, then why spend the money to grind it off, and then spend more money to paint it? If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Especially if it could result in more expensive problems, ie.blisters, down the road.
Carl Jones
S/V Spanish Eyes



GreatCells@aol.com

[Neil Gordon]

>>Everytime you have the bottom paint taken off with a grinder, ...<<

The best part about ablative paint... it comes off by itself... no buildup and no grinding.


Regards, Neil
s/v LIQUIDITY
Cape Dory 28#167




neil@nrgordon.com