440: Antifouling above waterline

[rom]

Hi everyone ! I am in the process of sanding my hulls down to gelcoat and was wondering why the antifouling goes so high, about 22cm above WL on my 2006 L440. Google images shows that some L440 have less than that. Most boats around me on the yard have 5 to 15 cm of AF above WL. What other lagoons have ? What is considered good practice ?

[Bean Counter]

It could be that when fully loaded in Class D waters and you have twenty five people on board it might go down a few inches.

Also if sea water is regularly lapping above the anti-foul, a green slime can attach itself just above the paint line, looks bad.

Just measured ours, 12cm so yours may be a bit higher than normal.

[Zach]

Do you have a boot stripe?

Sometimes folks will lose the boot stripe and bottom paint clear to the top of the old stripe line.

I like the look of a boot stripe, but if you've got rub damage from a dock or need to refair under the painted stripe, sometimes the tape line gets boosted over it for brevity and gets you back sailing.

My two cents on boats with long lasting paint or gel coat top sides, is that a boot stripe really just gives you a little bit of space between either dragging a buffer down antifouling and turning the gelcoat colors, or if you need to rub a sanding block down the antifouling at the waterline you can hit the stripe accidentally and not lose the paint job.

[David M]

It's mostly related to possible changes in displacement and changes in trim (fore and aft changes).

Nobody wants a beard on their boot stripe.

[rom]

thanks for your answers ! In pictures, mine is like the first one, and some are like the other one.


I am thinking about removing the stickers (they are getting old) and lowering them as well. So that I can keep the same look as the first picture, with only about 10 cm AF above WL. That would save about 5 sqm, which is not bad considering the price of primers & AF...

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by rom

thanks for your answers ! In pictures, mine is like the first one, and some are like the other one.
Attachment 158967
Attachment 158968
I am thinking about removing the stickers (they are getting old) and lowering them as well. So that I can keep the same look as the first picture, with only about 10 cm AF above WL. That would save about 5 sqm, which is not bad considering the price of primers & AF...

Personally I would stick with what you have, looks way better than a beard line.

[Zach]

You can't really remove antifouling from gelcoat without a fair bit of hassle and end up like it was never there. If they sanded the gelcoat before they raised it, whatever grit they used is full of paint. So you have to have enough gelcoat there to sand out the color stain and buff back up to a shine.

You can use paint stripper, but it doesn't fully get you out of the woods.

If you are going to do it, try it in a localized spot a foot or two long and see what kind of fight you will have. Don't run the buffer over any antifouling or over your boot stripe if it is vinyl... any color from the antfoul smears into any porosity you may have in the gelcoat and doesn't come out unless you block sand it out.

The guys that buy trailerable boats that have been bottom painted before that want a few extra knots from a gelcoat boat have some tips, tricks, and horror stories.

Good luck,

Zach