To Bottom Paint, or Not to Bottom Paint (or Just a Touch-Up)

[OrangeCrush]

Hello all,

I am trying to decide whether or not to have my marina scrape and paint the bottom again this year on my 1978 Pearson 26.

I just had them do it last year. I wasn't expecting to need another painting so soon, but the paint has chipped in a few places on the hull and there are a few spots of rust showing through on the iron keel (the keel was ground down and resealed and overall it is still looking pretty fresh... I put some POR-15 on the small rust spots to forestall any corrosion until grinding becomes necessary again).

To complicate matters slightly, I also recently patched up 4 old thru-hull fittings and I now have 4 patches of bare fiberglass I need to cover up.

So here is my question: Should I really dish out another $350 bucks for the marina to repaint the keel, or can I touch it up myself? Even if the marina does it, do I need to prime the bare spots or should I have them do that too? The local marine store sells sandless primer and bottom paint for about $75 combined. Is the bottom paint still lethal and illegal to do myself even if I don't spray it? And if I brush it on, is it effective?

I am on a tight budget here and I hate the idea of paying the marina to scrape and repaint the bottom if 90% of it is fine. Any insights into how I can safely and effectively do this myself?