Bottom Paint
 

I just purchased a 38 Donzi ZX, which has never run in salt water. I will be running in salt water this coming year. I'm thinking about painting the bottom, so I don't have to worry about leaving it in the water. I know, it's going to kill me if I have to paint the bottom, but it is what it is.
Does anyone have experience in painting the bottom of a boat that has never been painted before?
Any Suggestions? What to do and what not to do.

Thanks
Kenny

Darr?

Whenever I see bottom paint on a deep V. I think to my self, if I had to do that, the paint would follow the lines of the hull in the front like an accent paint. But whenever I see it, it's always just the very bottom... but that's just me.

good luck.

I just googled bottom paint, and found this. I know nothing about bottom paint, but thought clear was kind of cool.

https://twigmarine.com/products/seac...d-bottom-paint

What about the drives?

i did the same thing to my formula 400ss since it was going to live in the water. you also have to sand blast the drives and have them painted.

my recommendation would be DON"T DO IT

if you need to leave the boat in the salt then get a lift and flush it and wash it after every use.

you will kill the resale of the boat
it will slow the boat down
its bad for the boat because you don't have a good way to flush the motors sitting in the water.

Again DON'T DO IT

get a lift or take it out of the water

and in the long run a lift will be way cheaper than upkeep on the boat, just because you paint it doesnt mean its protected. it will need lots of maintaince

DON"T DO IT

:)

Call me if you want and i'll go over the details

Sticking to your question ..
1) Bottom will have to be de-waxed
2) Scuff up (sand) bottom
3) Application of epoxy based barrier coat (instructions can be a bit intimidating)
4) Apply good quality A/F paint
Instructions on barrier coat application will include the chemical bond of 1st coat of antifouling (referred to as the tie coat) but if you wish you can let the final coat of barrier fire off completely and then sand again later and apply antifouling for a mechanical bond.
For antifouling I'm most impressed with Pettit Vivid
This is a horrible job to undertake at the best of times but sometimes you just gotta do what ya gotta do. Not everyone has the facilities to haul their boat after every use.

I currently help maintain a couple of friends cruisers. We are going to have one blasted and repainted at the end of the year. I am currently looking for a paint that is not the chalky ablative paint that we currently use maintain. If there is an alternative paint that is similar to topside paints I don't care what the cost is per gallon I'm buying it. That link above to the silicone paint looks encouraging. $450/gal seems cheap if the maintenance is not needed.

Another vote for don't do it.

Not what you want to hear, but another vote for "don't do it".

Why dont you look at other options first. For example, if you are paying for a wet slip, it wont cost that much more for them to pull it and keep it on a rack. If your marina wont, look for another one. You can also trailer it out and store it on the trailer at a local yard or nearby storage. These small "costs" will be far less than losing 2/3 the value of the boat. Even if you plan on keeping it, the performance will suffer and you just committed to routine maintenance on the paint (coating) every 2-3 years. On boats with shafts, its not bad but if you ever look at a boat with outdrives its just plain grotesque.

Heck, its worth more of the gamble to leave it, see results and have someone re-spray the gel later IF it gets messed up.

Here is a useful link that I believe I found here on a similar discussion that may be of some help...

https://www.bottompaintstore.com/

Not if he sells it in the same market as he uses it ! (whatever the chances of that may be)
Where I am there are no haul out facilities (well , maybe .01 % of all boats) they all have bottom paint as much as I hate the stuff so it doesn't affect the resale.

I would strongly reconsider bottom painting any speed boat. Not only are you going to lose a few mph, but you are going to significantly hurt the resale value. You can get away with keeping a boat in the water for a few days, but after a week you will start seeing barnacles or other stuff start to form and you will need to scrub it. I had pretty good results with toilet bowl cleaner. As for the drives make sure you have good zincs and paint them every season.

Thanks to everone
 

I myself would vote don't do it. But my ex-father -in- law stole my home I once owned on the bay in Ventnor, NJ, so he could build a bigger house for him and his church loving wife.
I will keep in touch with what i finally decided to do, paint or no paint?

One possible solution is the use of "Ultra sonic antifouling" , no painting, just sound waves!

Funny that you mention Ventnor NJ. We are installing a Sea Pen water level dry dock in Ventnor today and tomorrow for a guy that didn’t want to bottom paint his new 35 Pursuit. If you’re still around that area and want to take a look let me know. The Sea Pen is a good alternative to bottom paint. Not cheap but a great way to keep the boat at the dock clean and dry. If you want to take a look call or send me an email.

Thanks, Pat
(401)600-1081
[email protected]

No S......I have a hard time reading boating magazines, the last few years, so I haven't been following the latest trends on this and that, but not a bad idea.
If it works like they claim, I'm a buyer. Thanks so so much. It seems so simple.

Kenny
38 Donzi

It sounds like you've had your boat for some time in freshwater. What is your long-term goal with your boat?
Gelcoat is not 100-percent impermeable to water. So if the boat will continually stay in the water, bottom coating is a smart move.
I know people that have a diver come and clean their boat bottom monthly because of animal and plant growth. A good bottom paint aids in the prevention of growth.

As for resale value. I'd rather have a boat that has bottom paint that's protected. Than a boat that has Barnacles up in the outdrive or bottom and the gel coat that's blistered. IMO.

What about Silic one from Hempel?

New here..just curious, is the main consensus not to paint relative to the location of “below water line”?

I have a 1990 Baja 250es. Bottom is in good shape and runs fresh water. Wanting to change the color scheme on everything above water level. Is 2-stage auto paint reasonable in this application?

There is no reason you can't paint below the water line. The bottom of our AT is single stage Imron gloss black paint and we have had no issues at all, also no loss in speed with the single stage Imron paint. We do not leave our boat in the water regularly and only for no more than 2 or 3 nights if we are at a poker, as well as occasionally over night on our home lake. The hull sides up are base coat clear coat paint on ours as well.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.off...55a3a36ace.jpg

Which one did you buy? I looked at the black one in jax a couple weeks back...

And leaving a step bottom donzi in the water is a bad plan. Sell it and buy a boat made for it imo. There are issues with the steps, bilge, drives, etc. It will lose a solid 20k in value the second you put bottom paint on it and it really won't work well. And depending on the engines you have it can be even worse

A lift is the solution to the problem.

FYI, bottom paint is not a cure all for growth. You'll need a diver to come in every few weeks to scrub it clean.

Bigger problem may be the outdrives. If you look around any salt water harbor, you rarely see outdrives on a docked boat. They just don't hold up well. Maybe others can give you their experience with that.

If you are going to paint it then https://speedcoat49.com is a good option to not loose any speed, you may actually gain a little speed (that's why we use it). It's pretty easy to apply yourself (I have done it on our race boats) and is anti fouling. There are also a couple of differnt colors to choose from which is nice.