Hull Finishes???

[2 OLD PIRATES]

I have just bought my first boat and I was wondering what kind of finish I should put on it. I'm going to take it down to the original fibreglass. I've heard that I should put a Epoxy Coat on first, but I'm not sure what finish I should put on after that. It originally had a VC17 coating. I'm not racing it, just cruising if that makes any difference.


Cheers

 

[bria46]

I would get your "NEW" sailboat in the water and sail it for this season. Worry about redoing the bottom paint in the fall once the CS30 is pulled out of the water. VC17 is a great paint for fresh water. Burnish the outer layer of VC17 with 400 grit sand paper or old newspaper and re-apply VC17. It should require about 2 quarts.

 

[Stu Jackson]

VC17 is reportedly the favorite bottom paint to lake sailors and Great Lake sailors. If you don't have any blisters, and if VC17 is there already, why bother taking anything that's there off (unless you have an incredibly large amount of previous bottom paint)? IIRC, VC17 itself is pretty thin. It's a lot of work to take whatever you have on off, especially if you can just sand a bit, paint some more on, and just GO!