Bottom Paint

[Gerry]

This May I am going to paint the bottom of "WyattC" my CP16.  I have not painted the bottom because up until now I only day sailed and stored my boat on the trailer.  I now have a slip at the Fish Creek Town Dock (Door Co., WI), so WyattC will be in the waters of Green Bay for the summer.  I have no idea what's on the bottom now but I suspect it has the original paint from 1981.  I want it to look like "Arion".  Suggestions...

Gerry

[brackish]

"Arion" has Blue water Marine Copper Shield SCX 45, color red, an ablative multi-season.  I chose it as a result of a "Practical Sailor" long term test where it was highly rated.  It costs less than the bigger names but according to the test it was top rated.   As a point of reference, one gallon will almost give two coats on a 23. 

[skip1930]

Well my boat from Yacht Works in Sister Bay came from the Florida factory with a brown epoxy barrier coat.

Years later I washed it a scrubbed it, wiped it down with solvent and painted it with several coats of blue water base Pratt and Lambert water base house paint. After drying, several coats of Mother's Wax. The number three coat of Mother's was never wiped off. I don't think the paint ever see's water. I don't have any grass growing on the bottom and I sit in Wama-Lama lagoon all season long.

I can't recommend this method but it works for me.

When I pull her for the winter, I take it to the car wash for a pressure washing and straight into storage.

skip.

Pretty clean for water base latex house paint and three coats of wax over an epoxy factory base coat.

The white goop slopped on is Marine-Tex that holds the 6 mm marine quality Aluminum ** KEEL BOOT onto the bottom of the flat keel. Picture was taken before I glued on the rolled-on front piece of ss sheet for about 3 inches above and on both sides of the boot.

What keel bunks on the trailer? ... hint ... they bolt on and off.

Before I moved the axle backward, my unsightly pounds would kip the front jack off the road.  Hence the rear jack.  Also I flip flopped the jack and Vee-block-bow-arm that was bolted to the trailer and moved all of that forward and that let me slide the boat forward for more tongue weight. After moving the boat forward I had to re-adjust the curve of the hull bunks.  I float my boat on and off the trailer ... not slide it off.  

** Side Bar. A 150 foot Sport Yacht by Palmer Johnson started life as an ALUMINIUM hull welded up in ENGLAND. All of it was trashed because NONE of the ALUMINUM was the right marine quality of aluminum material required. A costly mistake, and made because what was specked was not available in the U.K.. So we built and finished this three engineed-50 knot hull-in Sturgeon bay.

[brackish]

Skip makes a very good point.  The only purpose of anti fouling bottom paint is to retard the growth of marine vegetation and barnacles.  If you are in the water only seasonally and the season is relatively short, you may not need a true bottom paint.  

I'm in year round mostly in fresh water, however I go to warm water salt once a year for a couple of weeks.  Last year I didn't do that so the boat stayed in the water for two years consecutively without a haulout for bottom cleaning.  So I have to brush it in water during warm weather to get the slime and grass off and expose a new ablative layer.

House paint to get the look you want and wax to give it seasonal protection may be all you need.

Believe me, it is not a road you want to go down if you don't have to.

[mikew]

Gerry, I keep my 1983 Cp-16 in a slip on a lake in upstate NY. The boat is on a trailer in the winter. The boat had bottom paint on it that was beginning to wear off. It has no epoxy barrier but there are no blisters either. I called Pettit and spoke to customer service, they advised Pettit Hydrocoat. It is a less toxic to apply waterbased copper bottom paint. I roughed up the old paint some and applied one quart of Hydrocoat. You can even cut it some with water if needed. After one season I had no bottom growth or algae and the paint looks like new. I bought it from Defender.
Mike

[Harrier]

Just applied some hydracoat on my 27 yesterday.  One coat everywhere, 3 coats at waterline and on keel/rudder edges.  Only took 1/2 a gallon.  Used a 6in foam roller.  Went on nice and smooth.  Its also one of the cheaper brands of bottom paint, albeit not house paint cheap.  We'll see how it holds up???

[rbh1515]

Probably not the look you are after, but IMO, the best bottom paint in fresh water is VC17.  That is what I have always used on my boats in Lake Michigan.
BTW, I am looking into the new Horizon Day Cat.  We live in the Milwuakee area, but have a place up in Sister Bay, and plan on moving the boat up there in a couple years.
Rob

[jb]

take a look at Jamestown Distributors " TotalBoat" line of ablative paint.

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/search.do?refineType=1&sub_attr_name=Brand&refineValue=TotalBoat&refine=1&page=GRID&history=zajxn26q%7Ctop_category%7Ccategory~532%5EsubCategoryName~Paints%5EcategoryName~category_root

[atrometer]

Probably not the look you are after, but IMO, the best bottom paint in fresh water is VC17.  That is what I have always used on my boats in Lake Michigan.
BTW, I am looking into the new Horizon Day Cat.  We live in the Milwuakee area, but have a place up in Sister Bay, and plan on moving the boat up there in a couple years.
Rob

I liked vc17 but when I retired and planned to head south I needed a different paint.  I found out NOTHING can be put on top of VC17 except VCs - It had to be TOTALLY sanded off - $$$$$.  If you're never heading south you're good.