222 New Bottom Paint

[seaboarder]

Recently bought a 2008 222 which has never had bottom paint.

I plan to keep her in the water from May through September in MA and on a trailer in storage for the other months.

Any suggestions on the best plan of actions and cost estimates ? (for a boat shop to do not doing this myself)

 

[onoahimahi]

I did this myself last year on a 94 hull I moved up from Beaufort NC. I machine sanded the whole hull, which also had never been bottom painted. Then I applied 3 coats of Petit Epoxy primer for a barrier coat. On top of that a coat of red Hydrocoat and on top of that a coat of black Hydrocoat. It held up pretty well in the Boston area. This year I'll just touch up a few spots where I can see through to the red. I don't know how much that would have cost to have done - probably more than I could afford to pay.

At the same time, a friend of my had his boat painted that came up from Florida with no bottom paint. The shop used some kind of "no sand" primer and then put a couple of coats of bottom paint over that. I think he paid about $1600. His pealed in a few spots - probably due to using a no-sand primer. There is no pealing on mine.

You could call your nearest Grady Dealer and ask them what they recommend and what they charge. I asked mine and they said on new boats they use an initial coat of a "hard" bottom paint followed by an ablative coat. I think they were Interlux products.

 

[DennisG01]

Skip Sand (the no-sand stuff) is, indeed, a tried and true way of accomplishing this task. BUT (that's a BIG but), it all comes down to the effort that someone puts into it. Just as a poorly skip-sanded bottom yields ill results, so can a poorly sanded bottom.

Generally speaking, about $30-$40/foot should get you a good job. Just call around and see what the going rates are - they can change from one geographical area to another. The going rate in Florida won't be the going rate in Mass.

 

[beachbum]

did my 336 Canyon last year (or better said, had it done) They need to really clean the bottom (remove mold release wax if new boat/lightly sand if boat is several years old) you need barrier coating (prevent blisters) and then bottom paint. I have used lots of different bottom paints (I boat in NJ) and last year used interlux Pacifica- the paint looks like someone dipped you boat into a tub with liquid rubber- paint is slick, I got NO GROWTH/ almost no slime and this is the first paint that I wont have to recoat for next season- very impressive. After a season from July (when I got boat)thru December when I hauled it for winter

If you read the paint manufacturers sites, they will give you a step by step approach. I agree, for the first time you have a boat painted- probably in the range of $30/ft.to have it done correctly.