Stripping

[HappyKamper]

I'm more then half way through stripping the bottom paint off my 40' Formula. Not a job I would volunteer for.
I had called 2 soda blast companies. One didn't return my repeated calls. The other gave me a price and said he would be in touch "when the weather breaks". I asked what kind of weather he wanted. He replied over 50. Well, when its over 50 I was hoping to be the in water. So I took it upon myself to strip the bottom. It is going pretty well.
My question is, what do I apply after I'm done? I have traditionally used the ablative paints from WM. Always worked well for me.
Thank you.

 

[ddurand]

There are basically two kinds of paints. One for boats that get hauled out for the winter and one for boats in Florida that stay in the water all year. WM has lots of articles on this topic.

 

[alk]

I’ve never actually done it myself, but after stripping all of the old paint, to prevent blisters many paint manufacturers recommend applying an epoxy barrier coat as a primer, and then put whatever bottom paint you choose on top of that. twenty five years of boating, half a dozen boats, I’ve never used a barrier coat, and never had a blister. On a new boat, I’d probably barrier coat it - but my thinking is that if a boat has spent many years in the water and hasn’t blistered yet, it probably never will.

I’m a big fan of ablative paints, because the buildup you get with the hard paints doesn’t happen. So in theory you should never have to strip old paint again. on a formula, i think it would look pretty sharp with the pettit vivid on there - sort of has the shine of a topside paint, but it’s anti-fouling. Take a look; I’ve never used it, but when a friend bought a new formula from the dealer around hear a few years ago, I’m pretty sure that’s what they were sending everyone out the door with.

 

[boatbum]

IIRC barrier coating involves a thick coat of epoxy that can be quite expensive. Before I went that route I would research the boat brand and year to see if it was prone to blisters. More modern boats don't suffer from the condition like an older Hatteras. Ask me how I know LOL.

 

[PascalG]

Old paint is usually removed by sanding. Soda blasting is usually to remove harder stuff like bad gelcoat or failing barrier coating

When I repowered my 53 Hatteras 3 years ago, the yard sanded the old paint. There were some blister of course, but on these old boats they re cosmetic. The 50 year old gelcoat was pretty bad and crazed. I couldn’t get someone to media blast so after talking with the yard we decided to roll three coats of west system epoxy. I think we used about 10 gallons or $700 in pre Bidinflation era plus 2 or 3 days of labor. Then hard paint. Been 3 years and the divers say it still look great

 

[Good Grief]

IF the boat lives in the water, I think you'd want a barrier coat on the bare gelcoat. If on a trailer, maybe not so much - but most boats that live on a trailer don't get bottom paint. After the barrier coat, a coat of your choice of bottom paint (hard or ablative) in a color different than your choice of the bottom; then a coat of bottom paint in the color of your choice. Why? so you can tell when the outer coat is wearing thru.

$0.02.

 

[HOGAN]

Paint the first coat a different color than your final coat. That way, it will be easy to see where the bottom needs to be touched up in later years