Silly question... Bottom paint

[Greg Bancoff]

Ok, I'm new at this so bear with me....... How many coats of bottom paint should i do, of course on the can, Pette, sez you should put on two coats...... What do all of you experts do.. ( i have applied one coat and there are some highlites ) Does two coats last longer? better anti fouling ?

Thanks,

Greg

[Bob Luby]

Here's what I did:

When I got Grendel, I stripped it to the glass. Then I applied a coat of brown ablative antifouling with 2 coats of blue on top. ( all Micron CSC Extra ) When the brown shows through its time to repaint. Using the ablative means that you won't have to strip it again. ( Hopefully ) Just paint over the thin spots as they appear.

Which is what I'll be doing tomorrow!



Rluby@aol.com

[charlie palumbo]

Ok, I'm new at this so bear with me....... How many coats of bottom paint should i do, of course on the can, Pette, sez you should put on two coats...... What do all of you experts do.. ( i have applied one coat and there are some highlites ) Does two coats last longer? better anti fouling ?

Thanks,

Greg

Greg,
Are you taking your bottom down to bare fiberglass? If so and you want to do a thorough job, clean the bare fiberglass thoroughly with the approprioate solvent after a thorough sanding with 80 grit...a dual orbiter sander works well.Then you want to patch any gouges with the appropriate epoxy& filler, I would suggest the west system. In many applications you can use the fairing compound mixed with 105/205 epoxy. After at least one good drying day, I would sand out this application with 80 grit, using a cleaner solvent to remove the sanding residue.After this, you should seriously consider applying a barrier coat, which usually is an application of six layers of epoxy.
After this I would apply two coats of thinned bottompaint. As you can see this is a big job...my advice is don't do it if the bottom is not in bad shape. If you start it, you are committed to finish it.
On the other hand, if your botom appears to be in decent shape, sand thoroughly with 80 grit, wipe clean with the appropriate solvent,and apply one coat of thinned bottompaint if you haul out in the fall, two coats if you leave the boat in the water all year long.
Afer that you will have to evaluate the bottoms condition annually.

good luck,
Charlie



jcp1347@gateway.net

[Tom]

Ok, I'm new at this so bear with me....... How many coats of bottom paint should i do, of course on the can, Pette, sez you should put on two coats...... What do all of you experts do.. ( i have applied one coat and there are some highlites ) Does two coats last longer? better anti fouling ?

Thanks,

Greg

You'll get a lot of responses to this question, but here's what I do.
Through the years I've noticed that I get most of the growth at the water line around the throughulls and very little under the turn of the bilge or on the keel. Therefore I put one coat on most of the boat. From the waterline and two feet down I put two coats and I put two coats around each throughull outlet. Conditions vary in different waters so you have to see what works in your area. Here in Calif. the boat is in the water year around so we get more growth than places where the boat is hauled out for 6 months.

Using Petit as you say you are and not using a soft paint (or ablative type). One coat will last two years as long as everything is covered. After two years the power washer will blast off anything that's adhered. I mainly haul to replace the zincs etc. Conditions vary in different areas though. Standard practice is to put on two coats, but the more you put on the more you hasten the paint build up and the dreaded day when you're going to have to grind it all off and start again. So the trick in my view is to figure out what you can get by with in your area. Try one coat and see how it holds up. If you're OK with that when you next haul there is no reason to glop more on. If you're unhappy with the growth you can add more. I have not found that adding more coats improves protection significantly. If you roll versus brush you use about 25% more paint per coat. Thus a roller is sort of giving you a thicker coat automatically. On my 31 one gallon will just cover one coat if I brush it, but not if I roll it. What I usually do is get a gallon and a quart and brush on one coat. With the extra quart I redo the waterline area, the through hulls and I keep going until I run out of paint. This stuff doesn't store well from year to year unless you're meticulous about stirring it every few months which is hard to remember to do.

At the next haulout, I grind the whole bottom with a soft pad and 60 grit paper trying to take off the coats that I put on the year before to deter paint build up from year to year. If I notice any areas that have more growth than others I put a little extra on there next time. If you're using soft bottom paint you'd want two coats because it works by flaking off with time. Time will tell you what you need.



TomCambria@mindspring.com