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Wood Boat Bottom Anti Foul Paint
- Thread starter Caldwell
- Start date
- Joined
- Aug 16, 2007
- RO Number
- 28240
- Messages
- 1,772
Back when my parents had their 1969 Cruisalong, all we ever did was sand and apply a new coat of paint. I'm not sure you want to barrier coat wood as it may trap any moisture in the wood and not let it dry out over winter.
I had a wooden boat for many years (Chris Craft Corinthian). I used InterProtect on the hull using a technique developed by Smith & Co. I first removed all paint (big job), then impregnated the hull with penetrating epoxy (before and after caulking). Before the epoxy cured, I applied the InterProtect. I then faired out and painted. I can safely say that a lot of problems went away for ever. After a lot of research, I decided to do the bottom the same way, but I had to sell the boat before I got around tuit. The key is the Smith & Co. penetrating epoxy. Check out http://rotdoctor.com/ -do your own research; if you do this wrong, you will surely be doing it over......
I've had our wooden boat for 11 years and did nearly all of the restoration myself. The boat is kept in the water all year long. Use of penetrating epoxy on planked hulls is still controversial in the inner circles of wooden boat users, but gaining in popularity: especially for bottoms. Trapped moisture, cracking and incompatibilty with top coatings are the primary complaints.
Myself, I only use pentrating epoxy in limited areas like some of the sliding window assembly parts and small nonstructural areas that had some easily accessed water deterioration or rot. Above the water line: I think penetrating epoxy is needlessly expensive, time consuming and possibly troublesome. For the rest of the boat, I use Pettit Clear Sealer as a primer for varnish or paint or one of the white marine paint primers. The one exception to that rule is explained later. I follow the Pettit's instructions for mixing a little paint with the sealer to get better hiding under paint.
We have some sort of epoxy barrier coating on the bottom of our boat. This is not a penetrating epoxy like Smiths Penetrating Epoxy, but something else: a thicker epoxy that was applied some years before I acquired the boat. This epoxy coating is a royal pain. It cracks with age and cracks the ablative anti-fouling bottom paint I put over it. This epoxy coating actually forces me to bottom paint more often.
Shortly after I bought the boat I replaced a transom plank that was below the waterline. I sealed that plank with Smith's Penetrating Epoxy and applied the anti-fouling paint. This epoxy has been on the plank for 11 years and hasn't given me any problems yet.
If you use the Smiths product remember that it does not penetrate wood much further than Pettit Clear Sealer unless it is fed into the end grain of the wood. It has very little build. I kept reapplying the Smiths for about an hour on that transom plank. I sanded off some Smith's that I applied the same way (1 hour soak) on another piece of Philippine mahogany and it came off as easily as if it was varnish. If you want to "impregnate" wood with Smith's, plan on doing it in cool temperatures while feeding it into the end grain.
Myself, I only use pentrating epoxy in limited areas like some of the sliding window assembly parts and small nonstructural areas that had some easily accessed water deterioration or rot. Above the water line: I think penetrating epoxy is needlessly expensive, time consuming and possibly troublesome. For the rest of the boat, I use Pettit Clear Sealer as a primer for varnish or paint or one of the white marine paint primers. The one exception to that rule is explained later. I follow the Pettit's instructions for mixing a little paint with the sealer to get better hiding under paint.
We have some sort of epoxy barrier coating on the bottom of our boat. This is not a penetrating epoxy like Smiths Penetrating Epoxy, but something else: a thicker epoxy that was applied some years before I acquired the boat. This epoxy coating is a royal pain. It cracks with age and cracks the ablative anti-fouling bottom paint I put over it. This epoxy coating actually forces me to bottom paint more often.
Shortly after I bought the boat I replaced a transom plank that was below the waterline. I sealed that plank with Smith's Penetrating Epoxy and applied the anti-fouling paint. This epoxy has been on the plank for 11 years and hasn't given me any problems yet.
If you use the Smiths product remember that it does not penetrate wood much further than Pettit Clear Sealer unless it is fed into the end grain of the wood. It has very little build. I kept reapplying the Smiths for about an hour on that transom plank. I sanded off some Smith's that I applied the same way (1 hour soak) on another piece of Philippine mahogany and it came off as easily as if it was varnish. If you want to "impregnate" wood with Smith's, plan on doing it in cool temperatures while feeding it into the end grain.