i have a 1996 27ft. gradt white sailfish.the boat was in new york and bottom was painted with ablative bottom paint. i now have the boat in florida on a boat lift,the only time the bottom is in the water[gulf of mexico]is when ni am using it,otherwise it is on lift.the bottom paint is missing on various parts of the bottom[ablative wore off].my question is; should i do something to protect the exposed parts of the bottom,i believe it is the original gelcoat from the factory and that the wax was taken off to apply the ablative bottom paint.if so can i just repaint the bottom with "hard" bottom paint so i dont have to remove all paint and rewax entire bottom? i think the hard bottom paint would protect the bottom gelcoat and would not have to be redone as it doesnt wear off? any thoughts? thanks
bottom paint to protect waxless gel coat?
- Thread starter grdy83
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Anti-fouling paint by itself offers no protection to gelcoat except from marine growth. Gelcoat, by design, is what protects the fiberglass from the water. You can't put a hard anti-fouling paint on top of an ablative paint. You can't put paint on top of wax. You can either touch up what you have for cosmetic purposes or you can completely remove it and do something else (leave it as just gelcoat or paint it), but you can't mix different types of paint. The good news is that since you're on a lift you've just got a cosmetic issue. The easy way out is to do nothing. If the looks bother you, touch up the "bald" spots with the same color ablative paint.
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I live in SW Florida and my advice is to keep ablative bottom paint on it. If you take her out for three or four days and can't wash it IMMEDIATELY on lift you could be in a mess. The water temps and sun angle grows stuff quickly. My neighbor bought a pedal boat and left it at his dock two weeks against advice and when we pulled it out he had to buy expensive cleaner to remove the hard growth, not big stuff but hard growth and large enugh to cut skin. Also, check with he county you're in since in some counties here you are prohibited from wash a bottom not kidding, I live in one of them.