Bottom Painting Idea

[HeaveToo]

I was sitting there and thinking of boat stuff (I do this way too much) and it dawned on me....Why not block the boat at the trailer level.  I would love to have 4 jackstands to do this and then put something under the keel where you can access it.  Once that is done, let the air out of the tires on the trailer.  BOOM!  boat is off of the trailer enough to paint.  When you are done put air back in the tires.

Anyone think that this will work?

[Bob23]

   Where would the weight be supported? By the bottom of the boat? Not too sure about that...I'd call Rich or Gerry at Compac about that. Not saying it wouldn't work; But by nature, I tend to analyze and troubleshoot ideas before they are implemented trying to find weak points in the plan. Easier than having to explain why you have holes in the bottom of your boat or why you need to have it picked up off the driveway while it's lying on it's side.
   Salty's idea is good. But the 19's are a thousand pounds lighter and have a flatter bottom. Therein lies the advantage of the 19 over a 23.
   A while back, I was devising (in my mind, at least) a method of building  a temporary "lift" of 6x6's, braced for and aft as well as laterally. A system of webbing would be run on block and tackles to simulate the way a travel lift works. It all looked really good on paper (it's amazing how light that boat is on paper) and I'd just lift the boat off the trailer, do the prep and paint, and just lower her down.
   Then the other day, while driving by a small local marina, what didst I see? The same thing, but made of steel. Think travel lift that does not travel. So I think it would work, but it'd  be a bit of an engineering feat, you'd have to assemble/disassemble/store the thing. Easier for me to buy the case of beer for the marina guys for the use of the travel lift.
   Let me know what you come up with,
Bob23

[HeaveToo]

Bob....You would need to disperse the weight between 4 jackstands or something similar and then something to brace the bottom of the keel.

The travel lift wouldn't be a bad thing if you just had to do a short haul to get the bunks and the bottom of the keel.  It would probably be the easiest thing.

Hrm.......I wonder what the price of a short haul is these days.

[comfortably numb]

I used this method when I owned a Catalina 22 swing keel. I released the keel winch so the keel would stay cradled with it's weight remaining on the trailer. Using twinned pairs of 2x6s on edge shaped and padded to the hull fore and aft supported by stacked 12" concrete blocks at each side close to the trailer, I then let the air out of the tires after blocking them to keep them from rolling. Done deal.

[marc]

Here is what I do for painting my hull with my boat on its trailer. (My trailer has adjustable bunks.)  First I remove the trailer keel guides.

I work 1/2 of the hull at a time. To paint the starboard side, I first secure the boat to the trailer on the port side. I tie lines from the winch and cleat on the starboard side of the cockpit, over the cockpit and down to the trailer on the port side. I tie a line from my bow cleat to the trailer's port side. These lines will prevent the boat from tipping toward starboard when I get to the next step..

I then lower the bunk on the starboard side. This is done by loosening the bunk adjustment bolts. This gives me plenty of room to sand and paint the hull.

Lifting the bunk back into place takes a bit more effort. I need to use a bottle jack to raise the bunk to the correct position. I know I've got it right when I have the bunk tight against and conforming to the shape of the hull.

As for painting the bottom of the keel, I first block up the back end of the trailer. You can see the blocks I use under the center of the trailer at the bar light. I then adjust tension on my bow tie down strap. I want it loose enough so that the bow is able to lift a bit as I jack up the boat, but not too loose that the boat will slide backward on the trailer. I then just use my bottle jack to lift the front end of the keel off the trailer rollers. It is easy enough to get enough space to scrape off any growth and repaint. I then position the jack at the back of the keel to take care of business there.

Hopefully the photos come through. If not I'll try again.
Marc

[Tim Gardner]

Marc,

That is the exact method I used to restore the bottom of my 19.  After repairing multiple blisters I applied three coats (because I had enough paint for three) of epoxy barrier paint then two coats of hard copper bottom paint.  My boat lives in fresh water year round.

I do have to say my arms fell off several times requiring a couple of days reattachment 12oz curls therapy.

TG

[Mas]

I feel terrible......I use the marina free winter yard storage if they get to paint! Not even sure what kinda paint, other than ablative and it works for a season well. Thinking bout skiing! It's winter.

[Bob23]

  Interesting and simple, Marc. I may try it next year but the method I use works as  well. On the note of bottom paint, upon hauling out the boat last Sunday, what did appear? Not one barnacle, that's what. the 2 coats of Interlux Aqua really worked great. In years past, I'd have some growth but this year...only slime. I thought the boat felt faster this summer and this could be part of the explanation. Or it could be my superior captaining skills! Nah...it's the paint.
  Marc, did you build that custom stern rail?
Bob23

[marc]

Hi Bob,
I use Pettit Hydrocoat. Usually I'll have about a dozen scattered barnacles on the hull. My bigger problem are the barnacles that set up shop on the aluminum of my rudder. I have a Rudder Craft rudder with a plastic blade hung on an aluminum shank. I keep my rudder in the water since I'm in a busy mooring field and I don't want to risk a passing or drifting boat bumping into it. I paint the foil but not the aluminum shank since I do not want to create a corrosion problem with the aluminum reacting with the copper in the bottom paint. That little bit of unprotected aluminum gets a lot of barnacles. Periodically during the season I'll reach over the transom and try to scrape them off with a putty knife. Works somewhat but by the end of the season it's a real mess.

As far as the stern rail goes, I believe it came that way from the factory. The stern seats really need to be deeper to be comfortable, but they are still very fun. I'll sit on the windward seat with a foot on the tiller. The best advantage though is it is easy to board the boat from the ladder. No need to step over the rail to get into the cockpit.

[Mas]

I feel terrible......I use the marina free winter yard storage if they get to paint! Not even sure what kinda paint, other than ablative and it works for a season well. Thinking bout skiing! It's winter.

Well disclosure time, the above method is used cuz the boat that gets painted can't be placed on a trailer, and we haul every year. I didn't want to pay storage fees and the free storage if they paint was too hard to pass up (painting anything is not one of my favorite tasks, would rather dig a ditch!). Our little Compac 16 however lives on her trailer and we dry sail her so her bottom is as shiny and paint free as the day she was born 30 years ago. For those who do paint, I have seen somewhere an accessory for the trailers that essentially is a jack system that can be used to lift the boat off of the bunk boards. Am afraid i know little else about that system other than i saw one once, somewhere. Maybe Google it.

[Tom L.]

The brownell system to lift boats off trailers would likely work with a little adjusting for a sailboat hull, but it is expensive nearly $1000.00

https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=59042&familyName=JD+Boat+Lift+System

[Bob23]

  Marc: I used to use Hydrocoat and it performed well until one year when it didn't. Then I heard through the grapevine that Pettit had changed the formula. When I asked the Pettit guy at the Maine Boatbuilders Show about this, he never gave me a straight answer but rather squirmed a bit.
  Since switching to Aqua, I've had no problems and this year my boat was in for a longer time than usual.
Bob23

[marc]

Bob,
After reading your post I started looking into Aqua to see whether it can be applied directly over Hydrocoat, ease of application, etc.. Didn't pursue that for long though once I remembered I bought a gallon of Hydrocoat this past spring. I have enough left in the can to last me through the 2019 season. Anything I read now I'm bound to forget by the time I need the info.
Marc

[comfortably numb]

I can tell that cabin fever as set in and we have at least 3+months of hibernation remaining!

This may be something to mull over for someone to research this winter; I read where the chemical C8 by DuPont actually is no longer being produced, as I understood it from reading a fresh article in our local paper." C8 " is basically Teflon as we know it. Question; since that is a main ingredient of VC-17, ( is it not?) how much longer will it VC-17 be produced ? It is my understanding also that VC would have to be stripped before any other " anti-fouling" paint be applied. That would be fun!

Only did that once, had 30 years worth of ablative paint on an Ericson removed by bead blast. According to West, shelf live for VC is three years... Well, I already have ablative on my CP-19, but it looks like the water based products will be, or perhaps are, the future.