When a boat has been bottom painted, does it always have to be maintained with bottom paint? Can it be scraped off and painted and gelcoated to factory finish? If so, what is involved?

A LOT of sanding and prepping... we hired it done on a 36 cig years ago and were told by the sanders they would never do it agian not matter what the pay.

I removed bottom paint years ago on a 32'. There is a product you smear on about a 1' square area. It releases the paint and you scrape it off quickly. You don't go larger than 1' square because it will harden again. Just time consuming, but I did it myself. A good boatyard should know the name of the product that removes bottom paint - I can't remember (requires rubber gloves and goggles to use). Prior to bottom painting, your hull should have been sanded with big grit paper to give the bottom paint something to stick to. If you have big scrapes, then you may need to re-apply the gel coat prior to painting. If you do not have large scrapes, check to see that you have ample gel coat remaining and then all you have to do is apply a good boat paint (unless you want the gel coat bottom finish without paint - then you'll have to re-apply the gel coat). TH

Do a search. Many threads on this topic. I did it in a Formula 311and Ill say this. It was the hardest most time consuming project that I have ever tackled. NOTHING...And I mean nothing takes that stuff off easy. Then once the bottom paint is off you have only half the project covered. Then you have to sand with 4-5 different grits then re-gel then sand all over again

Have fun and good luck and wear a resperator