Bottom painting

Tips and posts general maintenance.
Jwood1
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Bottom painting

Post by Jwood1 »

How do people paint the bottoms of their Telstars? How much work is it? How many gallons of paint? Do you roll it on? How do you support the boat in order to reach all the areas?
Dan

Bottom painting

Post by Dan »

The amas are relatively easy to get to, since you can extend them while the boat is on the trailer. The main hull is a tiny bit trickier, but can be done fairly easily. You need a good floor jack to lift the boat with. A wide platform, say 2' x 4' under the forward end of the rudder trunk will allow you to lift the aft end of the boat from the trailer, provided the bow is not up against the winch post, enough to paint the area covered by the aft trailer bunk pad. A wide-block up near the bow will allow you to do much the same for the forward trailer bunk pad.

How much paint is required depends on the type of paint and the number of coats you plan on applying.

If you’ll be hauling the boat on a trailer or dry sailing it, you need to use a MULTI-SEASON co-polymer ablative paint. If you use a non-multi-season ablative or most hard epoxy paints, they will "de-activate" if the boat is out of the water for any extended period of time.

I would highly recommend putting an extra coat of ablative paint on the bows of the three hulls, along the waterline and on the forward edge of the centerboard and rudder, as these are generally high wear areas for ablative paints. If you put the first coat or two on using a different color of paint, it will allow you to see when the paint is starting to wear thin, and allow you to paint only the areas where the paint is getting thin.
Ron
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Bottom painting

Post by Ron »

The boat is delivered with one coat of black Fiberglass Bottomkote - an epoxy paint that probably won't last the year, especially in warmer climates. But, when lightly sanded, it's a decent base for any ablative paint that you want to put on. I used just under 1 gallon of Petit Hydrocoat for 2 1/2 coats of this ablative - the "half coat" being aplied in the areas which Dan already described. This paint works for me partially because the boat is stored on a lift or trailer part of the time. In the warmer Florida water all of the time would require something like Trinidad SR.
Ron Marcuse
Telstar 28 #359 "Tri-Power"
Dan

Bottom painting

Post by Dan »

BTW, I cheated and went with a long-term hard-epoxy multiyear paint out of England, called CopperCoat. One friend of mine has had it on her boat for 14 years now—mind you that’s a single application of it, and it is still working fairly well. I’ll be happy if I get five years out of it, since it will have paid for itself at that point in reduced maintenance and paint costs. If I get ten years out of it, which is what the manufacturer states it is good for, I’ll be psyched. Another friend has had it on their boat for seven years, and it is still going strong.
drsm
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Bottom painting

Post by drsm »

Ron wrote:The boat is delivered with one coat of black Fiberglass Bottomkote - an epoxy paint that probably won't last the year, especially in warmer climates.
Any idea whether they apply a barrier coat first? Also, which Fiberglass Bottomkote product do they use?
Dan

Bottom painting

Post by Dan »

The factory does not barrier coat.
drsm wrote:Any idea whether they apply a barrier coat first? Also, which Fiberglass Bottomkote product do they use?
Ron
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Bottom painting

Post by Ron »

According to the manual and talking it over with Will, they used Interlux Fiberglass BottomKote Black 779 (an epoxy) when they built my boat about 18 months ago. This could have changed, and that product is now known as Fiberglass Bottomkote Classic on the Interlux website. If you want to know exactly what's going on yours, ask them. By the way, using an ablative as the first coat is not that good of an idea. The epoxy paint that they use (over a no-sand primer) is OK as a base if you repaint it in a few months with the ablative of your choice. There are different paints that work better in different climates. The best analysis of bottom paint that I've ever seen is in Practical Sailor. This on-going test must be going on for about 10 years now.

I've been using Petit Hydrocoat for many years now on several boats. It works for me, but I would NOT use it on any boat in warmer climates that's always in the water. I like it because it contains teflon and the dried paint is more scrubbable than other ablatives. Teflon when burnished could add maybe 1/4 to 1/2 knot of boat speed and scrubbable means that the bunks won't take off that much paint when the boat either slides on or off the trailer.
Ron Marcuse
Telstar 28 #359 "Tri-Power"
wingman
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Bottom painting

Post by wingman »

We are in a very competitive racing fleet around Annapolis, MD, so are looking for a hard paint that has anti-slime. I do not want to have to clean the bottom every week, as I did last year. We leave the boat in the water year-round because we use it year-round. I am looking at VC-17m, Vivid, and Trinidad SR. VC-17m has teflon and biocide, but appears to be more for fresh water and low salinity. I have a call into the tech guys at Petit to compare Vivid and Trnidad. Anyone with an opinion? (a needless question with this group!).

In cleaning off the stuff PC puts on has anyone had any problems or found the best method? Sanding and Peel Away Marine Strip II seem to be the choices.

We have yet to pull the boat, but plan to get it out in the next two weeks. Will it dry out enough in a week, assuming normal dry weather, to allow sanding and painting?

Thanks,

John
Ron
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Bottom painting

Post by Ron »

John -

The kind of work you have to do on the bottom depends on what paint you wind up with. The conditiion of the hull is the other major variable. PC puts on an epoxy based paint and it's not a bad start for many other bottom paints. If you wind up with a vinyl based bottom paint (or some others) then you will probably have to totally remove the epoxy. The solvents in the vinyl paint will take almost anything under it off.

I'd take a look at Petit Hydrocoat as well. It's an ablative (with teflon), but it can be burnished by wet sanding or with a 3M abrasive pad. Mine looks almost like a teflon frying pan after an hour (or two) of work with a power sander / polisher. Been using it for about 12 years, mostly on a large monohull. It must have got me an extra 1/3 knot or so on the big Catalina. It's the only ablative out there which can be burnished. Should last about 2 years in the Chesapeake. Doesn't have the anti-slime standard, but you can add it to the mix.
Ron Marcuse
Telstar 28 #359 "Tri-Power"
wingman
Posts: 64
Joined: Sun Dec 21, 2008 6:25 pm
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Bottom painting

Post by wingman »

Thanks, Ron.

I talked to a local Pettit guy and he recommended Vivid, which is hard and can be burnished. The Micron guy recommended Ultra or Extra, hard and ablative, respectively. I see that Hydrocoat gets a single-season recommendation by Practical Sailor. The Micron guy said that 66 did not work in the Bay as the Bay was too brackish. Depending on which BottomKote PC used, Micron said it can either be lightly sanded or has to be removed completely. The Pettit guy said that we could probably apply over the Bottomkote, but needed to test it on a small section. I am still undecided.

Does anyone use a barrier coat?
Has anyone found any blisters?

I am debating sanding or stripping. Most stripping requires using paper and sounds very messy, but Pettit makes a stripper that does not require paper and is biodegradable, though, of course, the stripped paint is not. Need to buy a good sander if I go that way. A good excuse to buy a new toy!

One nice item about Vivid is that it comes in white, so the amas can be all white!

BTW, I tried to attach a pdf of the Pettit paint stripper, but it was disallowed by the site.
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