how much bottom paint

[omoore]

Just bought a 19 MkII.  Does anyone know how much bottom paint is needed?
Many thanks
Oliver
New Bern, NC

[Lafayette Bruce]

In the past couple days I painted my 19 bottom with Pettit Vivid and it took two quarts to do 3 coats.  Years ago I used Pettit Trinidad and if I recall I barely got one coat with one quart.  Some of it has to do with how thick you coats are and/or how thick the paint is.
Lafayette Bruce

[MacGyver]

Bottom paint will differ from type to type.
If you tell me what type I can probably tell you how much you will need.

Example: Interlux Fiberglass Bottomkote Classic: 2 quarts.
Interlux Micron CSC: 1 gallon, will have some left, but not quite a full quart left.

The big thing you want to watch with bottom paints is to apply them properly as that will help to better make it pay you back for buying it.
With micron, using the proper roller ensures that it solventizes the previous coat, and gets a proper bond.

If you happen to barrier coat the boat before bottom paint, I highly recommend Interlux 2000, it is more user friendly than Petit Protect.
If you use that you will need about 2 gallons to do the whole boat.

Another example on bottom painting according to manufacturer, Vivid has to be put on thinly, and you dont want to scub the paint in the water, as the copolymer blend of that paint is made to shed the growth in a much different manner......

Also do you plan to trailer sail, or slip sail the boat, as that will determine what bottom paint would be best so that it doesnt go bad on you while sitting on the hard.....

Mac

[Harrier]

Mac, any tips on how one goes about determining the type of bottom paint that is currently on the boat, for compatibility sake?

[brackish]

Not a 19, but for reference sake, I can barely get two coats from one gallon on my 23.  That is for Blue Water Marine Copper Shield SCX 45 boosted ablative. Top rated paint by both Practical Sailor and Power Boat Reports.  Beat all the old, more familiar names.  My experience, I just finished my second year, did a light in water scrub to remove slime, plenty of paint left and still ablating.  Boat stays in the water year round.  Going to pull this fall and put the same paint back on.

[MacGyver]

Harrier,

You could rub your hand across it, if it comes off a lot it should be ablative. if not a lot, just slight color then it is a vinyl type.

If not much of anything comes off, take some acetone in a rag and wipe, if it turns copper colored it is VC 17.

My recommendation on old paints is to remove it if you cant be sure about it, and start over, but if you dont necessarily care what it looks like, then lightly sand and paint with what you want.

Also, when you sand a bottom, be sure to pressure wash or scrub with Dawn and rinse well. This removes all the dust on it and will ensure a solid bond. Keep in mind that the bottom paint is made to come off, that is its job.... so if you wait until what is there is off as much as it can be, then you save yourself time and labor. 

Mac

[skip1930]

Quart and a half if you roll it on thin.
So two quarts, half gallon. But I guess you'll need a gallon.
I don't think they sell a half gallon.

I use ACE water base house paint but bare in mind we only are in fresh water from June to October.
I pull it out and take it to the coin operated car wash and spend $10 in quarters for a wash job
and then into storage. Works for me, clean as a whistle. It's the cheapness in me surfacing.

skip.

[Bob23]

For the first time this year, I am using Interlux water based bottom paint. I've used Pettit Hydrocoat in the past but decided to try Interlux as my local boat shops stopped carrying Pettit products. I like the way it applied and I got a full coat using less than a quart. Only time will tell if it can withstand the critters that lurk in the saltwater of the Barnegat Bay, NJ.
Bob23