Bottom paint for Great Lakes
 

I'm going to paint the bottom of my Baja in the spring, I've used vc17 on my cruiser worked great but don't like the color that much for the Baja
Was thinking more towards
Interlux micron csc
Interlux trilux 33
Pettit vivid
Either white or light gray

Thanks Matt

all i know is once you bottom paint a go fast boat, you just married yourself to the boat...for the bottom coat i dont have much input sorry...but im sure you will find out soon..If not i would post up in general boating

There is a great silver color by Silver Bullet (SeaHawk). For fresh water only. It can go over VC17 I believe, no matter what you choose confirm capatibility.

I don't believe so if you keep the boat in the water you have to protect it from blistering etc if its trailered or on a lift than yes dont bother but mine is gonna sit in water from may till october and I'm going to paint with something that comes off very easily with a power washer like vc17 you literally power wash it off no sanding before applying either

Ill look into it
Thanks

I am not trying to be stupid but you are saying that the paint will just power wash off, and you just can put a new coat on every year , or does the green just wash off easy to clean it like the on/off cleaner for boats that are not painted
scott just sounds to good to be true with out loseing speed

Yes correct if you get too close to vc17 with a power washer it will get removed from the boat it's a self polishing paint and you'll have to reapply or atleast touch up once a year depending how fast your boat is

On my cruiser I had to touch up once a year and repaint every two years
It went 40mph on GPS now the Baja should be 60-65mph so it'll wear off sooner so maybe recoat every spring

As for loosing speed maybe small loss but for sure less than growth on the bottom of the hull,on sailboats they gain 1-2mph with vc17 but that's sailboats

The only draw back for me with vc17m or vc17m extra
Is the color choices but most likely ill just give in and go with the trusted paint

Lets get a few things ironed out for future reference: 1.if you paint a go fast boat with bottom paint,one of the other guys just said it ------ You will never sell the boat and will own it for ever !!!!! 2. you do not have to paint the bottom of the boat if it is in fresh water and the blisters you are talking about have only happened on certain boats--- yes it might help to keep the bottom clean if you paint but it is not required ... granted you will have to spend a lot of time keeping it clean and possibly pull it out of the water a few times a season and clean it with acid but the world will not come to a end if you don't paint.......
3.I have a feeling the only reason that guys tell you to paint is back in the day everybody did it. and Marinas make a lot of money selling you $50.00 a quart paint which requires you to lay under the boat in the spring time freezing your butt off and then pay them to pressure wash the boat off in the fall..Then guess who gets to sand the stuff thats left off the bottom to put new paint on again....
4. In salt water its different , you almost have to
paint to keep all the crap off the bottom,But then again no one who owns a go fast boat keeps it in salt water anyway!!

5. And last but not least the boat looks soooo much better sitting on the trailer with a nice clean white bottom with no three year old dryied up paint sitting on it.





Jim:evilb::evilb:

I agree with the above comment. Bottom paint is a bad idea. My boat sits in the water on a mooring all summer and is not bottom painted. The key is to use it enough that it does not sit long enough to have anything grow on it. However, every couple weeks it does get pulled out of the water to get pressure washed and waxed. All of my boats have sat in the water all summer every year. Only one has had the blistering problem, and that was caused by moisture in the layup of the glass.

VC17 is great on sailboats, we use it, but keep it on the sailboats. If you bottom paint anything other then a cruiser you are going to be kicking yourself when it comes time to sell it.

nevermind guys i see wrong forum to post this in

first you can power wash it off when its time to sell and you dont sand it before putting it on that the beauty of it
blisters arent a concern in fresh water now thats a joke my buddy has a 1998 formula that did everything like you guys and has a boat full of blisters so keep doing what you doing plus my boat is not a $30k+ boat but $15k
so im not gonna have a problem selling it and if i do ill power wash the bottom paint off
not sure where you get the idea that bottom paint is pernament for sure not the one ill be using

Don't take offence man. It has popped up here and there with people bottom painting performance boat. Overall it is not a good idea. It does scrub speed and hurts resale. I have never heard of the product you use. I am in the paint biz and there is nothing out there that I personally know of that you can apply without sanding. If it works for you, great! Use it. Any boat can blister if left in the water long enough.

Welcome to OSO. What kind of Baja ya have? Power?

You could consider putting a coat of white epoxy paint on the bottom. Although this will not prevent fouling it will clean off much easier.
My Fountain has a white epoxy barrier coat and it sits in a well most sumers. I clean it when ever I pull the boat to get gas and it never gets seriously fouled but it does discolor to a light tea stain.

This year I hired a local diver to clean the crud just prior to pulling the boat in October. He charged me $2 a foot length. The best $64 I've spent on the boat in ages.
ed

most likely gonna go with the vc17m tested ill just deal with the color dont want discoloration
thanks for good info

not taking offence just dont like when people talk out of their a$$, as for speed yes it might loose some and resale maybe but like i said you power wash the paint right off

theres two ways of applying vc17

1. sand,primer paint with vc17 this makes the paint last long

2. wash the "virgin hull" apply vc17 this way it wears out quicker depending on usage and speed but you can remove it with a power wash if not carefull, trust me i did remove alot when came too close with a power washer

my boat is a 1995 baja 272 with a 502mpi

heres a link to an article:
http://www.boat-project.com/otherproj/vc17.htm

quote from it:
"The result is that the VC-17 works over raw gel coat, but not as well as the VC-17 over VC-Tar. If I power wash the boat bottom, I have to be careful in the patched area as I can literally blow the VC-17 off that is over the raw gel coat.:

Very cool. Where do you boat? Is this your first performance boat?

i boat in between lake erie(crystal bay),detroit river and lake st clair, the baja is my first real performance/sport boat i had a 1997 wellcraft eclipse with a 350 than a 285 four winns with twins and now the baja. how about you

Oh that is cool. We are on st. Clair pretty much every weekend. We also run the Det and st. clair river a bit. Also lk Erie a few times a season. I have one of the 2 Powerplay 33's in MI. Mine is white with a purple interior and some checkers on the side. My gay buddy AJfisher on here as the other and usually hangs out around Saugatuck from what I am told. :lolhit:

Look around this spring. It is always nice to meet new boating people.

sounds good, you'll notice mine it'll be the only baja with bottom paint lol

No pic haha. I have seen another 272 with bottom paint out at the moot.

Welcome!

I boat in the 1000 Islands, if the water gets much lower I will be painting my boats hull in "Gravel Guard". LOL!

Michael

Let me know how well that works for ya. Here we are close behind...

just got off the phone with interlux and the rep said the
vc17 is 8 times thinner and smoother than any other paint that they sell, so i either have thin smooth easy to remove bottom paint or can go with micron csc which is thicker less smooth harder to remove

the only thing is that the vc17 is only available in red,blue or original charcoal gray where the csc is available in lighter colors light gray and white

most likely vc17 original and deal with the color