Once Painted, Always Painted?

[Jonah]

Hi all,

I've heard it said that one risk of applying bottom paint is that once you do, you can never go back. I bought my boat with a fresh layer of ablative paint on it, and it could now use a new coat. But, I've also just gained free access to my neighbor's lift, which was sitting empty. If I have it on a lift, can't I just let the bottom paint wear away over time? I know it won't look great, but I don't mind too much. Is there any reason that I should still apply a fresh coat of paint?

Thanks as always.

 

[seasick]

Hi all,

I've heard it said that one risk of applying bottom paint is that once you do, you can never go back. I bought my boat with a fresh layer of ablative paint on it, and it could now use a new coat. But, I've also just gained free access to my neighbor's lift, which was sitting empty. If I have it on a lift, can't I just let the bottom paint wear away over time? I know it won't look great, but I don't mind too much. Is there any reason that I should still apply a fresh coat of paint?

Thanks as always.

Other than the look, it generally won't harm you in any way to not paint. Bear in mind that your last ablative job may not have been the only one and there could be other layers below it Although ablative paint does wear away off, not all of its components do so. There will always be something left.
As the hull experiences wear and tear from use, the existing paint or paints may start to chip or peel. In addition to the look, that can add drag which can affect performance and fuel efficiency.

From a good neighbor point of view, remember that if the boat looks like crap, those who notice it will see it on your neighbors property
So give it a go and see how it looks. If it starts to look like a derelict boat, you can think about new paint or having the old stuff removed. That may or may not work out as planned since right now you probably can't tell what the hull looks like. It is common for repairs to made that don't match and/or don't look great but then get covered up by bottom paint

 

[Sharkbait282]

Our 282 came with some hideous and fractured multi-layer bottom paint, and while we'll never go to a lift, I can share some insight.

You CAN go back to gelcoat, but the abrasion process typically means that you won't be able to recover the bottom gelcoat to "new shiny" below the waterline. That said, racing powerboats and sailboats have for many years used hard, epoxy based bottom paints to generate a durable, polished bottom finish, on top of the factory gelcoat.

An easier way, if you wanted to, would be to go back to gelcoat first, and then build up a good base of 3-7 coats of barrier coat, which can be had in white. Although it's typically intended to be a base for subsequent bottom paint, I don't see any reason why you couldn't run the boat from a lift with just barrier coat on the bottom. Even sanded out to 220 or 300 would be sufficiently smooth for a powerboat. Racing sailboats typically get wet-sanded to like 400-800, which is labor intensive.

Bob.

 

[ROBERTH]

I sanded off my bottom paint then re-gelcoated the entire bottom and it looks like a new boat. Very happy with the results after 4 years now. I trailer my bot. I just could not stand the rough bottom paint.

 

[DennisG01]

As long as you're OK with the aesthetics of it, there's absolutely no functional reason you need to keep painting it. You're totally fine to just let it wear away over time.

I had a 28' Sea Ray cruiser (second owner) that I trailered, but it came to me with paint. The longest I ever kept it in the water at a time was 2 weeks so I didn't need the paint. All I ever did was repaint the little bit of paint that was on the vertical hull sides (and a little bit up near the bow) since they were the only areas easily visible on the trailer or sitting in the water. Heck, sometimes I didn't even use bottom paint - once or twice, getting ready for a big trip (and I didn't have any bottom paint on hand), I just used some black spray paint (matte) that I happened to have. :mrgreen:

 

[seasick]

As long as you're OK with the aesthetics of it, there's absolutely no functional reason you need to keep painting it. You're totally fine to just let it wear away over time.

I had a 28' Sea Ray cruiser (second owner) that I trailered, but it came to me with paint. The longest I ever kept it in the water at a time was 2 weeks so I didn't need the paint. All I ever did was repaint the little bit of paint that was on the vertical hull sides (and a little bit up near the bow) since they were the only areas easily visible on the trailer or sitting in the water. Heck, sometimes I didn't even use bottom paint - once or twice, getting ready for a big trip (and I didn't have any bottom paint on hand), I just used some black spray paint (matte) that I happened to have. :mrgreen:

Dennis,
your post reminds me of a member at my club who every season would spray paint his vinyl cushions with Rustoleum spray paint. Sounds crazy and it was a pretty beat up boat but I have to admit for a reasonable amount of time, the cushions looked pretty good

 

[Jonah]

( ... one year later ... )

Hi again,

Thanks for these responses, which were very helpful at the time. I'm now in Nassau, keeping my 272 in the water, and I have the same question: just how important is bottom paint? I understand the role it plays in preventing growth by slowly washing off over time (ablative, at least), but it is that all? Is it protecting my hull from water seeping in over time? If all it does is help prevent growth, then I would rather brush the bottom once per week than pay $2,000 to have it painted every 18 months.

Thanks!

 

[DennisG01]

$2,000! Holy crap - is that a real estimate that you received? That is CRAZY high. That's even immensely high for the initial paint job. You do know it's pretty easy to do yourself, right?

Bottom paint is not 100% waterproof. However, it's pretty rare for Grady's to experience blistering - at least not more than the occasional few here and there. But, you can first use an epoxy barrier coat and that IS waterproof.

If you keep on top of the washings, you "might" be alright. Barnacles are another worry. But I honestly don't know anyone that can make time (and the "want") to be brushing/cleaning the entire hull bottom every week. That will get very old by week 2.

 

[seasick]

( ... one year later ... )

Hi again,

Thanks for these responses, which were very helpful at the time. I'm now in Nassau, keeping my 272 in the water, and I have the same question: just how important is bottom paint? I understand the role it plays in preventing growth by slowly washing off over time (ablative, at least), but it is that all? Is it protecting my hull from water seeping in over time? If all it does is help prevent growth, then I would rather brush the bottom once per week than pay $2,000 to have it painted every 18 months.

Thanks!

My advice is to ask your marina folks and friends about the slime and growth issues where you moor your boat. Some areas are much worse than others. In my area during the warm season, 3 days is enough for barnacles to start attaching to non painted surfaces. I have seem hulls totally covered with barnacles and depending on the roughness or smoothness of the hull, they can be hard to remove and can damage gel coat. So ask your fellow boaters for advice.
On a second note, I had a friend who while scraping barnacles, cut his hand on one. That ended up a few days later as an emergency room visit for infection and took a heck of a time to completely heal. His hand looked like a football. Hands and feet don't tolerate infections very well.

 

[Jonah]

Dennis and Seasick, thanks very much.

It sounds like I wouldn't be putting my hull at any risk of water damage, and the main issue is just how hard and time consuming it would be to keep the growth and barnacles off. Right?

I wish I could take some of Dennis's advice, but my neighborhood doesn't allow trailers to be kepy in driveways, and so I don't actually own a trailer at the moment. I can't complain though—having the boat in our neighborhood canal is rather ideal otherwise. So unfortunately, any work requiring that the boat come out of the water is enough that I would probably just go ahead and have it painted.

Seasick, you make some good points too. Given the local weather, I make it a practice to take the boat out at least once a week, even if only to knock off the growth and give it a gentle scrub around the stern, where the flow of water isn't sufficient to do the job. But you're right, even with that schedule, I've seen some barnacles grow on unpainted areas, which might be a real pain in harder-to-reach places like the middle of the bottom.

I'll ask around for another quote. Things are expensive here, but I also have a trip to FL planned for the winter, and might look into having it painted while I'm there. I have a good relationship with the dealer from whom I bought it.