Bottoms Up!
If Atlantic conditions are similar to Pacific conditions, I suggest painting the bottom at no more than three years between haulouts. Even if it looks like there are no signifigant growths near the waterline, the bottom and keel could be coated. Heaven forbid a keel getting dragged, but that scrapes off the anti-foul and presto! A six foot long rope of aqua vines takes hold. Common practice is to stand on the dock and scrub with a long, curved brush - blind to all or most a foot below the surface, and missing the keel and centerline. Besides the need for paint, it is good to check the bottom for blisters, cracks, delaminations, and a host of other possible problems. Inspect the tiller shaft, the rudder, the prop, and prop shaft bearings, and the through hull fittings - both inside and out at the joins and the interior connections. if anything looks crusty, rusty, warped, or cracked, fix it, replace it, or clean it. Through hull fittings often get clogged because they get over looked. Several layers of paint often accumulate on bottoms - as the paint gets fouled, sealing off the anti fouling copper compounds, by pollutants, or just age. Eventualy, a stripping of the old is recommended, but it should be at the owner's discretion - be ye a racer of a pleasure sailer. My location in Humboldt bay, Eureka, Ca. is a bay rich in organic materials. The rate of growth is astounding for 50 degree water tempature. An untreated hull is coated in a month and has 3 - 4 inches of shrubbery in 3 months. Chesapeake, being off the gulf stream, though at a similar lattitude, would have a faster growth rate, though different critters and leafy suckers. Painting is not just and expense in the rear, but it is a good excuse to go over the most vital, but most ignored part of your boat, the hull below the waterline. Congradulations on the boat, Good Sailing! Saildude25@ Aol and Hotmail .com
