Bottom paint

G

gunks

Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2002
RO Number
7600
Messages
7
Hello All , hope you all had a nice winter.

Getting ready to springerize my boat and have to question whether or not to bottom paint. I do it every year , but is that really necessary? Can i skip a year? I never have any marine growth when it is hauled and i run it every weekend. It stays in the water for six months in the NorthEast salt water. ( NewYorkCity) the marina does NOT allow us to do it ourselves for environmental reasons and for my boat they charge $300 . ( 27 foot )

Thanks
Bob
 
There are some good quality paints that will last 2 seasons. We did 3 seasons and when we pulled the boat, bottom wasn't bad at all. Of course, you will probably have to do a short haul in the off year to clean running gear and install new zincs.
 
First question: Is the current bottom paint a hard or ablative? If its a hard paint then it has lost its biocide effectiveness over the long haul-out period and will need to be repainted. In addition, hard paints build up over time and will eventually need to be removed. Not a pleasant job.

For the above reasons we generally see ablatives used in areas where a boat is out of the water for more than a month or so. If the bottom is currently painted with an ablative it may or may not need repainting depending on the condition of the current coat. It may only need a touch-up in high wear areas or the bottom may need a complete repaint if the current coat is well worn.
 
need to know whats on there to really know if it will last more then one season
 
Mike,
We have regular old yard bottom paint on our boat and it will need to be done this spring. Should we spend a little more and put ablative over it or just keep using the same inexpensive paint? There seem to be some pretty good sales at our local marine stores on both types but the difference is maybe $30.00. They also each have different levels of something (I'm at work so I'm not sure what the chemical is right now) in them and I'm not sure what each means. If you need more info I'll post again when I'm home and have the flyer in front of me!
 
BJL,
From my experience, if there is hard paint on the bottom now and it's in good shape (no peeling, major flaking, good adhesion and no build-up) you can put ablatives on top of it. Usually 3 coats to start with the first coat being a different color than the two coats that follow. That way, when you can see that bottom color showing through you know its time to apply another 2 coats.

As for the difference between an inexpensive and an expensive ablative, well, I've used both. We spend the majority of our season in brackish water in the Upper Chesapeake and found the only difference between cheap and expensive was the endurance of the paint. When applied properly the cheap stuff will last a single season while the more expensive paints are multi-season. So, if you are on a budget and not adverse to painting the bottom yourself you can go with the cheap stuff. However, if you hate the job or are paying someone else to do it use the best paint you can afford so you won't need to do it (or pay someone else to do it) every spring.
 
Mike, thanks for the info........we're up north in salt water for the summer so we do the bottom every year anyway. My mechanic was over today doing some spring work and he also said to just get the cheaper ablative paint so I guess that's what we'll do. We paint one of the boats ourselves as it's already blocked in our yard. The mechanic will take the other one on the trailer, block it and paint it with our paint.
 
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