New Owner

[Ricardo Carvalho]

Hi, I just brought a 1985 Hunter 23.
She is ok but I have a question about the botton paint.
My question is if it's really necessary to have the botton painted since the boat will be on water but on a lake, not on salt water.
My biggest concern is osmosis on the hull.

Thank you for any clarification.

Ricardo

 

[Mike M16608]

Hi Ricardo - I keep my H23 on Lake Erie, and with Zebra Mussels and other stuff in the water, basically everybody bottom paints. I was formerly on a small lake and did not paint the bottom (different boat) and the annual fall cleanup was a heavy job. I started painting and the cleanup job was reduced at least 10 fold.

 

[Clark]

The problem Ricardo - even in fresh water - is growth on the bottom. It doesn't take long for slime to develop and in a few months, strings of algae. As stated earlier, a real PITA to clean off. If you have a trailer, you might be able to keep the boat assembled and ready to launch (depending on the marina). An alternative to that would be to hire a yard to put a proper barrier coat on the hull plus a couple of coats of good fresh water anti-fouling paint.

 

[Ricardo Carvalho]

Mike / Clark,
Thank you for that.
So It's seams that painting is a consensus.
The old paint (I could identify 2 layers) are falling appart.
I undestand I should take all off, clean everything and paint again.
Am I right?
How many layers and what kind of paint (brand if possible) should I use?

Sorry for the baby questions, but I'm starting on this art.

Thank you again.

Ricardo

 

[Clark]

For Interlux products, the InterProtect 2000E/2001E has worked well for us here in the South. I'd check in your area for suggestions on what type antifouling paint to use. Normal application I think is 2 coats. As with any refinish/recoat/repaint, preparation is the key. If you want to put barrier coat on, you'll have to remove 100% of the old bottom paint, open any blisters, let dry, patch the old blister holes fair the hull and apply the barrier paint coats. Finish the job with 2 coats of antifoul paint of your color/type choice. Read the instructions and plan carefully; you might not have to do any sanding betweeen coats if you schedule it properly.

 

[Mike M16608]

I get by without the barrier coat, but Clark's description of the process is best. With my boat, I'm only in the water from late May to mid-October, and the water stays fairly cool, even through the summer. In warmer climates, you'll get more growth. I've never seen any evidence of blisters on my H23. If there are any, they would be small enough to ignore at this point. On an annual basis I sand down any areas that have gone brittle and flaked off, then repaint those sections. About every 2nd or 3rd year, I rough sand everything and put another coat on, but I don't take it down to bare hull. Since the paint is ablative, it isn't building up too much, even though I don't sand all the old paint off. If I was in harsher conditions or if I was racing, I would follow a more rigorous plan. Check with local chandleries and ask others on your lake what they do and use. Wear a mask when you sand and cover up while painting. It's not like the copper base (cuprous oxide?) will kill you if you touch it, but it is toxic to a degree.

 

[MikeH]

For fresh water you can also use VC17 which I did. I'm also on Lake Erie and I like the VC17 because it has copper powder which seems to fight the worst of the molds and algae. I barrier coated like Clark, but I have friends with smaller boats who used my left over VC17 and had no problems either (I had blisters that needed repairing first).

If it helps you can see pictures of my bottom redo at http://community.webshots.com/user/sailor602/ under "repainting my bottom"