Hunter 240: Painting Hull

[spacetiger]

Hello,

I have my sails and am turning to getting the hull painted below the waterline.

I tried searching but have not found a post from someone who has done this. I was looking to get a deep blue on that is a self-polish that can be taken in and out of the water (trailered, lifts, etc,) without effecting the bottom paint. I did not want an ablative coating as it slowly wears off (that is what is on there now).

The boat is currently on it's trailer and will need to be separated to be painted in its entirety.

I would be interested in hearing from anyone who has successfully done this task. I will post back with my results so and see another job, but I'm hoping I'm not the first.

Thanks to all that can help in advance...

Jerry

 

[sesmith]

Jerry,

I did my 23.5 (similar to your 240) a couple of times myself when I had it. I dropped the nose of the trailer down as far as I could. Then I put 2 flat power boat stands under the stern of the boat. I raised the nose of the trailer with a jack and blocked it up. This raised the stern up off the bunks. Then I jacked the bow up by putting a jack between it and the trailer and blocked it up off the trailer. This raised the rest of the boat off the bunks. Then I removed the bunks and sanded and painted while working with the trailer in place. You could go with more stands if you could fit them in, but I found that the boat was stable being supported in 3 places. I always breathed a sigh of relief when I had it back down on the bunks, though.

 

[spacetiger]

Sesmith,

Thanks for the tip on how to get the boat off the trailer.

Any thoughts on the paint that you can share?

Jerry

 

[sesmith]

Check with other boat owners in your area to see what works best there. I've used ACT in the past. This year, I'm trying this one on my new boat:

http://www.boatzincs.com/copper_shield_45_ablative.html

I'm on an inland lake in the northeast, though.

 

[carboman]

I have some pics in my profile/albumn that shows what it looked like after it was off the trailer.

http://forums.hunter.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=147839

 

[spacetiger]

Thanks guys - and Carboman on the link on your past efforts.

I will post back on the final paint selection and how the project went.

Jerry

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Spacetiger;

If you are planning to follow the advice of lifting the boat off the trailer, do you feel comfortable with that? Also, you have to be careful where you place the short stands on the hull or it will contour or push the hull in and if in the area of the water ballast tank, you could break the seal of the tank lid inside the boat.

As for paints, I can help you there as I use to be on Smith Mt. Lake in the 80's and 90's and delivered boats to Lake Anna. Is the nuclear power plant still operating there? send me an email with your phone and I will call. I am a retired Hunter dealer

crazy dave condon

 

[sesmith]

Yea, what Dave said. You need to be careful where you put the stands. Sorry, I never took pictures. I never had any problems, but I may just have been a lucky guy. I also don't know if they made any changes with the 240 that could cause problems doing it this way. When in doubt, pay to have a boat yard do it. It's really not worth saving a couple hundred bucks if it means trashing the boat, or worse yet, having it fall on you.

 

[spacetiger]

Yea, what Dave said. You need to be careful where you put the stands. Sorry, I never took pictures. I never had any problems, but I may just have been a lucky guy. I also don't know if they made any changes with the 240 that could cause problems doing it this way. When in doubt, pay to have a boat yard do it. It's really not worth saving a couple hundred bucks if it means trashing the boat, or worse yet, having it fall on you.

Agree. I have worked around mechanical things and have an engineering degree and many years of experience - but the boat could still fall if I am not careful. I am thinking of doing the paint job in parts (front then back). This will allow me to have the trailer still under the boat. I realize I may not have a totally smooth paint job, but it will be okay.

Jerry

 

[sesmith]

You'll never notice it. But unless you're a real contortionist, working around those bunks in place will be a real pain, and you'll wish you just paid someone else to do it There's something to be said for just dropping it off and picking it up. I did that too, the 1st time I painted mine.

I did leave the trailer under mine and just removed the bunks. You could get more creative than I did and find a way to block it up in a couple more places along the hull on each side. You could also do one bunk and side at a time although I'm not sure what that would accomplish safety wise.

 

[Happy Daze]

I used to do exactly the same. Only difference is I would only do half at a time. that way I didn't need any other stands. Just use the trailer. I could take the 4 supports off completely for access. 2 at a time.
I have used West marine modified epoxy with good results. Used to be able to get 76% copper. now only about 56% I think. Don't know how it would work if you kept it out of the water?

 

[spacetiger]

You'll never notice it. But unless you're a real contortionist, working around those bunks in place will be a real pain, and you'll wish you just paid someone else to do it There's something to be said for just dropping it off and picking it up. I did that too, the 1st time I painted mine.

I did leave the trailer under mine and just removed the bunks. You could get more creative than I did and find a way to block it up in a couple more places along the hull on each side. You could also do one bunk and side at a time although I'm not sure what that would accomplish safety wise.

So what do you think it would cost to drop it off and pick it up? I'm guessing you are paying a slight premium for the same supplies + the labor costs. They might quote you a fixed price, so I'm guessing $175 (paint & supplies) + $450 (6 hrs x $75/hr) = $725... which works out to be a do it yourself job. If these numbers are in the ballpark for a Hunter 240, you point is that for $450 I don't have any risk on my health?

Jerry

 

[sesmith]

Call and get a quote. Where I live, one of the yards did my 23.5 several years ago for around $200 plus paint. I seem to remember a bill for $400-$450. That was several years ago. I found that I did a better prep job than they did (I'm not sure they did any), and with some touch up, got a couple of years out of a single coat of bottom paint...only 1 year when they did it, and I was able to shop around on paint. So the bottom line is that I saved money, but it was a job I didn't really enjoy doing.

Of course, no amount of money saving would have been worth it if the boat fell

 

[BrianW]

Launch/Re-Launch Bottom Painting Method

A couple of years ago Rick Webb started a thread about the "launch/re-launch" bottom painting method. I tried his method on my H26 and it worked pretty good. In Rick's method, you recover your boat from the water at the ramp and intensionally put it on the trailer off-center. You then paint the bottom except (of course) for the area on the bunks. You let the paint dry, relaunch, and retrieve back onto the trailer off-center in the other direction. The unpainted areas are now exposed. You paint, let dry and are ready to go. The main sacrifice is you don't get to paint the whole centerboard and inside the centerboard trunk, but then again, neither can you with the above methods unless you raise it off the trailer 18 or so inches, and drop the CB. I think a DIY lift method CAN work, but the potential risks to life, limb and/or boat bottom are severe. BrianW