Hey folks - (OP here) interesting stuff...especially the SeaHawk 'saga'. The previous owner used micron66 and since much of it is in pretty good shape, I expect I'll use that again. The micron prep instructions (on Jamestown site) say to just "Remove all traces of loose paint, dirt, grease and other contamination by wiping with Interlux Special thinner 216. Sand with 80-grit sandpaper. Remove sanding residue. Apply paint".
Assuming my hull and previous paint is in good shape when I haul it - is that good? no need for special primers or barrier coat? (Boat is a 2007)
thanks - Dave
First the barrier coat issue. Your Catalina is made with vinylester instead of polyester. The result is that you can't get the typical blisters. So barrier coat is not required as a protector of the hull against blistering.
Barrier coat can be an affective primer for bottom paint. You take all the paint off down to the gelcoat, typically by sanding or media blasting, then apply 2-3 coats of barrier coat following the directions. You then "hot coat" the first coat of barrier paint by applying it to the barrier coat with it still tacky (thumb print test). Then apply additional coats to get to your desired paint thickness. We did 3 full coats and 3 more at the waterline to hopefully last us over 2 years in the Caribbean.
Now to the Micron 66. Great product. It is a chemically ablative paint, which means it reacts with the salt water to ablate growth. The downside is that you need salt water. Tampa Bay looks to dip below the salinity requirement during part of the year. When Micron 66 spends a day in water with less salinity than it needs the whole chemical process is ruined and the paint looses its ability to be ablative.
So I suggest you either do some research on the area of Tampa Bay where you keep the boat and see if it ever gets below the salinity requirement of Micron 66 or look at Micron CSC because it doesn't have the salinity requirement. We just did Micron CSC. I wanted to do Micron 66 but we were doing the ICW and the salinity thing came into play. It's only been a couple of weeks so I can't give much of a review of the Micron CSC.
Good luck and fair wind,
Jesse
