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Bottom paint
Can it be removed?
what is the purpose? is it always a bad thing? why is it always black? |
Can it be removed? Yes , but that depends on how well (properly) it was applied. If it was just slapped on a bare gelcoat bottom it'll probably drop off in time. If it was properly barrier coated first with an epoxy based primer and then tie coated you're in for a not so fun time.
what is the purpose? If it's anti fouling paint you're talking about the name says it all . The boat was intended to stay in the water for extended periods of time and it's supposed to inhibit marine growth. is it always a bad thing? It is if you plan on selling it and the marketplace for that particular boat is a fresh water trailered one why is it always black? Generally owners try to get the bottom paint color to co-ordinate as best they can with the rest of the boat's exterior decor . I'm only a fan of black where it's absolutely the only way to go . I've seen many boats that used black when there was better choices . |
Removal
Mine was painted for years, and last year had it removed by a dealer with 80 grit. Most came off easy smooth but some places the Gel was an issue and went down to the glass. I prepped it and painted 5 coats of Interlux VC Performance epoxy. It looks pretty good. Only down side is the paint has no UV protectant. The sun will cause it to yellow, so only use it under the water. It can be re-gelcoated but that is serious money Purpose Covered by mad bad thing If the boat size leads it to be in the water and therefore most boats of its type size will be painted, then good. If the person buying the boat wants to keep it in the water also good. Person wants clean hull, that is the only bad one. Black Several different colors including white |
I've owned a few boats with antifoul, horrible stuff but if the boat's kept in the water, there's no choice. Color is up to you, my first antifouled boat was white with white antifoul and it was a nightmare. Showed every little bit of slime and if you tried to clean it off every week you'd take a lot of the antifoul off with it. Next boat was white and I changed to black antifoul and never looked back. It seemed harder than white but certainly didn't show the marine growth and lasted longer, probably 'cos I wasn't scrubbing it off every week! Many people like blue because it's such a traditional 'nautical' color and deep red was popular for a while in Australia as many Aussie Bertram's had red striping. Not so popular nowadays. Avoid antifoul if at all possible. Rack storage or trailer storage is so much better, your sterndrives are out of the water too. The extra you pay for storage will be well worth it. RR |
it is best not to have the boat more than a week or 10 days in a row in the sea water.
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Bottom paint
I’m looking at 370ss Formulas I don’t want bottom paint. Anyone had it removed and was happy with results? How much $ |
I had bottom paint sanded off then re-coated with interlux VP underwater epoxy. (As mentioned above) it cost $~3,000 for my 28 checkmate. |
Any difference in performance after removing? |
Bottom paint can be removed, but results as others have posted can be varied. Any boat that is capable of 60 mph can see a loss of 5-10 mph in top speed depending on quality of application and effectiveness of product. I would never apply bottom paint to any powerboat I own. Most savvy performance boat buyers will not even look at a craft with bottom paint. Also like anything boat related, it is one more thing to maintain. Annual touch ups and repaints every few years will get tedious. Incidentally, the drives, tabs, and transom mounted accessories and platforms will also need to be painted to prevent damage. IMPULSES is accurate, a week or so on a dock or mooring is about all you can get away with. When launching and retrieving my boat, I do a walk around and visual inspection to insure all is well, tough to do when docked in the water for the season. There have been great advances in products that help keep your craft's bottom clean, some of the spray on - hose off stuff is very effective. IMHO don't paint it!
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Here is how I did the back of my velocity 320. Sanding is way to messy.. I squared off the edge of a stiff putty knife, still leaving edge sharp but square instead of knife edge. Start scraping lightly till lade wears a little then you can apply more pressure, wear safety glasses. When done scraping clean with lacquer thinner then I bought large med grit scotch Brite pads, cut them to fit on my black and decker sander. The square one that you can put drywall sand paper on. Keep gel coat wet with water in spray bottle. Run it till scratches fade. Then rubbing compound. This took bout 3-4 hours total
.https://photos.app.goo.gl/iMxJPH8WpUdNawTf2 |
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