Bottom Paint

[adudinsk]

I use VC17.. every year I put 2 quarts on.
No nothing each year.
I just power wash when I pull out of my slip once a year..

[MrTerpak]

How'd it turn out? Just painted our '89 26D above the water line.

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Excellent information, thanks very much. I just purchased an '87 Mac 26D... first big job will be bottom job over clean gel coat (never bottom painted before... woohoo). Next up, paint above waterline, boot stripe, paint deck, non-skid... the boat will be looking GOOD!
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[imjustinbraun]

I just got my boat back from paint on Sunday. Based on @kurz's suggestion I went with coppercoat so that I don't have this problem for another 10ish years. I think it turned out fantastic. Total cost was $1700 for 2 coats including labor. Thread from my bottom paint questions here.

[Stickinthemud57]

I used VC 17M when I painted the bottom of my 26S. At the advice of other and Interlux, I applied 5 coats of Interprotect epoxy paint first to seal the bottom and prevent blistering, then sanded it smooth. I'm glad that only had to be done once!

I pulled the boat out for the winter, and I was surprised to find that pressure washing the algae was also removing the VC 17, so I switched to a broad plastic scraper (which did quite nicely), and scrubbed the remaining residue with a medium-stiff brush. I applied a single coat of VC, and the instructions say that should be good for two years.

I took the boat out to other lakes a few times last year and plan to do likewise this year, so that will give me the opportunity to clean the bottom then as well. The trick is to get to it before it dries.

[OverEasy]

We looked at copper-coat anti foul but found that it isn’t the kind of antifoul one can take in and out of the water readily and still have the anti fouling properties work…

Seems that as long as one gets 5he hull into the water and keeps it in the water all is pretty much good for the most part.

The problems arises when one delays getting it into the water and/or cycles the hull in and out of the water.
We were informed that one would need to lightly scuff the entire hull surface with sandpaper just before putting it back in the water after any period where the bottom dried out. The sanding was required to re activate the anti fouling properties.

The copper particles need an unoxidized exposed surface to dissuade the marine growth and critters.
Exposure to air for any reasonable amount of time allows the formation of copper oxide.

Given that we are in both salt and fresh water and transit north/south on our trailer the cooper-coat wasn’t a good fit for us.

Just what we found out in our search process before we had our hull cleaned, primed, epoxy painted and the anti foul coating applied.

Best Regards
Over Easy