Bottom Stripping/Painting Questions

[frmreilly]

Believe it or not, after like ten days under a sander I have actually sanded my bottom with 60 grit paper & removed all the bottom paint, except the paint under the poppits. What do I do now? Must I use several coats of barrier paint? Or could i apply one hard coat of good paint & then one coat of ablative?What do I do to prepare the surface -- ie get rid of all the dust from the sander?How do I address the areas that are under the poppits?Any help/advice/suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Larry Wilson]

What is a poppit?

First question, what is a poppit? Second question,did you remove any gelcoat? Third, was there any evidence of blistering? If no gelcoat was removed, and there were no blisters evident, then I'd just skip the barrier coat, and go straight to the ablative. I have acquaintances that put on two coats, one a lighter color than the other, so that they can gauge the condition when they haul out. If you're in an environment that allows it, wash the bottom down with warm water and a good boat soap.Rinse and wash again. Let it dry completely and paint. If there is a blistering (osmosis) problem, then go to the West System (Gougeon Bros) website and read the procedure for repairing blisters. Larry Wilson Richmond,Va.

 

[Steve Dion]

If you have gone this far....

I guess I would disagree with Larry. Since you have the bottom stripped down this far, I would definitely put on a barrier coat is you still have gel coat.I would go to the Interlux site and check out their recommendations. If you decide you want or need to do it later, you would need to go through this entire exercise again.

 

[Capt Ron;-)]

Lord of the Rings?

Hiya Reilly, Guess I can't screw ya up any worse than anyone else.Fistly, did you mean Hobbit? Methinks yer thinkin or the bronze ring things or the through hulls? Don't worry yer pretty head bout that, but this is really hard to advise you on a bottom that we have not seen.A surveyor would give the best advice, he will need to get paid, the yard crew will want work, so, if you have scraped through the gel-coat, the do a 'barrier coat', but no need to if you have not, just roll on a couole coats of bottom paint, change yer zincs, check the strut bearing, add a pinch of salt, splash!

 

[AXEL]

Put on the barrier coat!

If you went though all the trouble of sanding off all the bottom paint, it would be a big mistake not to go the extra ten yards and barrier coat. If nothing else that barrier coat will make a difference when you (if you) ever think of re-selling the boat. It's not that much more work. Use Interlux, it's a good product. As already mentioned, after the barrier coat, apply 3 coats of a good ablative bottom paint with the 1st coat a different color. The idea here is that with a good paint you only need to touch up seasonaly where you see the paint wearing through. If you have seen evidence of blisters, you will need to pop and fill them. It's complicated, if there is blistering you will need to "dry" the hull before the barrier coat. I would highly advise NOT skipping the barrier coat. (just my 2 cents).

 

[John Dawson]

Poppits

Do like Interlux recommends and leave increasingly large margins around the edges, then when the stands are moved, sand the edges of the empty patch and start putting overlapping layers down.