Bottom Paint for a Trailer Sailer?
- Thread starter sailinmike
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Unless you are planning on leaving the boat in the water for extended periods of time, there is no need to paint the bottom of a trailered boat. How long "extended" is, as it varies by location, but a good washing will usually keep it clean.
My boat is trailerable - a H22 - I have no trailer for her, and she sits in the Gulf of Mexico year round, so she gets painted.
My boat is trailerable - a H22 - I have no trailer for her, and she sits in the Gulf of Mexico year round, so she gets painted.
Good point and I'd add that if there is no bottom paint on the boat now (clean gel coat) and you do end up putting on bottom paint to avoid growth consider putting a barrier paint on to prevent potential blistering.
If the boat is going to be in the water for extended periods there could be the potential for blistering and the bottom paint won't prevent that. If it happens then it is a real job to get the bottom paint off and repair the blisters and then re-paint using also a barrier paint. We are going through that expense now ourselves with the Endeavour we bought.
If the bottom is gel coat now and you decide to paint putting on a barrier paint is less than $150 and only a couple more hours work at this point vs. potentially a lot of work down the road if the boat did get blisters.
I have the info on our site here....
http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner/macgregor2/outside-39.html
...along with the bottom paint we used. We picked it out after asking what worked in Florida waters and it did a good job for us. You are on the right track asking what is best for CA waters. Also check that it will be legal there in a few years as they are going through some changes in some areas and maybe statewide now or in the future. Google that.
One last thing and you might know this and that is if you are not leaving the boat in the water all of the time you want to make sure that the paint is for trailered boats and will continue working if the boat comes out of the water for a time. Some paints are not meant to be used in this situation.
Good Luck,
Sum
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I use rustoleum on my Mac V2-22 bottom. I'm never in the water more than a week at a time and a quick pressure wash takes the small amount of slime right off.
I like rustoleum for two reasons....
1) It is a very good quality enamal
2) I can always find an exact color match (even years later) when I need to touch up a ding or two.
I like rustoleum for two reasons....
1) It is a very good quality enamal
2) I can always find an exact color match (even years later) when I need to touch up a ding or two.
Wait. What? Rustoleum?
Moving on.
I second the thought on using a barrier coat.
Bottom paint is not a barrier coat.
I used InterLux Micron Extra for the bottom paint and works good for a trailerable boat.
One point however - they suggest using a different color for the first coat so you can easily see when it’s worn down. I have had a couple of small areas where the bottom paint popped off (2 or 3 inches in diameter). Point is, it came off right between the two colors. Like there is some sort of bonding issue between the different colors. Not a big deal. I may have bumped something that caused it in the first place. It's been on there for several years.
Moving on.
I second the thought on using a barrier coat.
Bottom paint is not a barrier coat.
I used InterLux Micron Extra for the bottom paint and works good for a trailerable boat.
One point however - they suggest using a different color for the first coat so you can easily see when it’s worn down. I have had a couple of small areas where the bottom paint popped off (2 or 3 inches in diameter). Point is, it came off right between the two colors. Like there is some sort of bonding issue between the different colors. Not a big deal. I may have bumped something that caused it in the first place. It's been on there for several years.
The boat came with bottom paint of unknown type and will need to be removed as it looks ugly and is very rough textured. The boats been out of the water for at least 12 years. I don't forsee keeping the boat in the water for longer than 2 weeks or so at a time. I'm thinking maybe a hardcoat like UNEPOXY, more for astetics than anti-fouling, and to hold up to trailering.
I have never experienced Rustoleum bottom paints and was not aware of that. I understand the topside paints.
When trailering boats keeping them in waters for a brief period, then anti fouling paints are not suggested. If you want the added protection, then apply barrier coats but please make sure the hull is dry before applying. It takes weeks for the fiberglass hull to dry out properly. As for blisters, you can dremel those out, filling with two part epoxies and I use Water Tite. Then I would sand and put a couple of applications of barrier coat on top and repaint with anti fouling paint vs. painting the rest of the hull if not needed.
There are many applications of paints and you are correct to check with the locals but again the boat being trailered all the time does not need to be painted. Now leaving in the water is another issue due to barnaacles in salt water, zebra musscles in the Great Lakes are and now some hard slime algea adhering to the hull.
If leaving the boat in the water year round, then I would apply an anti fouling but check locally what is best to apply. If you are going to temporarily going to leave a trailerable in the water say for 6 months for one in the Great Lakes and wants the paint to be good for the following season, a softer paint like West Mareine CCP or comprobable Interlux brand will do nicely. Otherwise most antifouling paints will dry out and be no good for the following season if left out more than 60 days out of the water.
Alot really depends on what you are going to do with the boat and then checking with the locals as to the best solution where the boat will be at.
When trailering boats keeping them in waters for a brief period, then anti fouling paints are not suggested. If you want the added protection, then apply barrier coats but please make sure the hull is dry before applying. It takes weeks for the fiberglass hull to dry out properly. As for blisters, you can dremel those out, filling with two part epoxies and I use Water Tite. Then I would sand and put a couple of applications of barrier coat on top and repaint with anti fouling paint vs. painting the rest of the hull if not needed.
There are many applications of paints and you are correct to check with the locals but again the boat being trailered all the time does not need to be painted. Now leaving in the water is another issue due to barnaacles in salt water, zebra musscles in the Great Lakes are and now some hard slime algea adhering to the hull.
If leaving the boat in the water year round, then I would apply an anti fouling but check locally what is best to apply. If you are going to temporarily going to leave a trailerable in the water say for 6 months for one in the Great Lakes and wants the paint to be good for the following season, a softer paint like West Mareine CCP or comprobable Interlux brand will do nicely. Otherwise most antifouling paints will dry out and be no good for the following season if left out more than 60 days out of the water.
Alot really depends on what you are going to do with the boat and then checking with the locals as to the best solution where the boat will be at.
I'd add a caution to the above. When we bought the Endeavour we saw the repair bill which wasn't summarized for blister repair and barrier paint and bottom paint from about 2006. Like I said it wasn't itemized but was over $3000 and I made the wrong assumption and thought the whole bottom was barrier coated along with the broker. Well we bought the boat without having it hauled and moved it to where it is now stored. Upon hauling it out there we found new blisters and saw that there was only barrier paint on the previous blister repair areas, not the whole bottom as I had assumed. There were new blisters in the areas that hadn't been barrier coated. We would of still bought the boat had we know about the blisters, but would have then also anticipated spending another couple thousand on it.
I'd say that the barrier paint is so inexpensive, less than $150, for a 26 foot boat that if you feel the need to put it on, especially if you did blister repairs, put it on the whole bottom and hopefully be done with it,
Sum
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Sumner;
As I would say, there are so many variables regardingn each boat. Usually if one is doing a complete bottom coat barrier, it is suggested 4-6 coats. One can of barrier coat on a 26 foot hull is not enough but everyone has their own opinions which i respect.
crazy dave
As I would say, there are so many variables regardingn each boat. Usually if one is doing a complete bottom coat barrier, it is suggested 4-6 coats. One can of barrier coat on a 26 foot hull is not enough but everyone has their own opinions which i respect.
crazy dave
Yep there are a lot of options and I woulldn't recommend 1 coat either. We went with Sea Hawk's Tuff Stuff as it is a high build that goes on thicker than most of the others. They recommend 2-3 coats. That gives you the same build thickness in mills as the 4-6 coats others use. We used 2 coats and will do the same on the Endeavour. They had a 2 gallon kit for $120 when we did the Mac (26 feet) and that gave us 2 coats.
It took a day to put on the 2 coats of Tuff Stuff and 3 coats of bottom paint (2 different colors so we know when it wears) but it was a long day and where we are paint dries fast.
Everyone has there favorite paint, but I think any of the epoxy's from the major manufactures are good. One just needs to make sure to follow their requirements for surface preparation and time windows between coats and top coating with the bottom paint,
Sum
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Bottom paint
Hiee,
In the restoration of the boat we bought I used Pettit epoxy primer 3 coats and then Pettit Hard anti-fouling paint again 3 coats. The keel box was also done with the epoxy and the anti-fouling. Mind you our water is somewhat colder then socal and the likely hood of growth is less.
c_witch
Hiee,
In the restoration of the boat we bought I used Pettit epoxy primer 3 coats and then Pettit Hard anti-fouling paint again 3 coats. The keel box was also done with the epoxy and the anti-fouling. Mind you our water is somewhat colder then socal and the likely hood of growth is less.
c_witch
Sumner
Thank you for backing me up on the mutiple coats of epoxy barrier coat.
Usually when not knowing what is the best, I go to the yards in the area that paint sailboats asking what they consider the best for the specific area. Here in North Carolina, the best for me was Petit Trinidad SR but you are right everyone has their preferece of paints.
crazy dave condon
Thank you for backing me up on the mutiple coats of epoxy barrier coat.
Usually when not knowing what is the best, I go to the yards in the area that paint sailboats asking what they consider the best for the specific area. Here in North Carolina, the best for me was Petit Trinidad SR but you are right everyone has their preferece of paints.
crazy dave condon
Opinions on a boat that is only going to be in the water for a day maybe two at most? I will be sailing Tampa Bay. I currently am sanding off the mix of bottom paints that have been on my boat for quite some time. Mostly down to the original gelcoat, but there are some areas where the bare fiberglass is exposed. Am planning on fairing with epoxy, but then what?
Any areas where you had to use epoxy fillers, I would suggest coating with barrier coats maybe 2-3 for added protection.
When the boat has beeen bottom painted 3 times you really need to remove those layers of anti fouling paint.
crazy.
When the boat has beeen bottom painted 3 times you really need to remove those layers of anti fouling paint.
crazy.
Call a local area to where your intended use will be is the best advice you have so far.salinmike said:
If you really are not leaving it in the water more than 2 weeks at a time I think your throwing good money after bad purchasing expensive bottom paint and barrier coats. The way I understand it hard epoxy bottom paints are not recommended to be out of the water more than a few days at most.
My boat spent its first 30 years of life being in freshwater lake environments for up to 7 months per year. There is not a single blister or any bottom paint at all. Just an annual power wash and wax from the previous owner. Dumb luck? Perhaps.
The only reason I am painting the bottom is because I intend to keep it in the water 10 - 12 months a year.
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