I had one of the most unpleasant
boating experiences of my life today coming through the
Cape Cod canal in my 1978
Pearson 26. We were soaked last night in a series of thunderstorms and we had our
lifelines full of drying clothes today while motoring towards Buzzards bay with a strong
current. While cruising out of the
canal at over 10 knots (current included), a large powerboat traveling at least twice as fast cut over hard and crossed our bow within about a
boat length. He curved around, creating a huge circular wake that compounded on itself and crashed over our bow with a gigantic crash. All our
laundry was soaked with
salt water, which also poured in the open forward
hatch, even making it back to the
cockpit and soaking all of us. *All of our luggage and
cabin cushions got soaked. I don't think I have ever been so mad in my life, and it honestly seemed like he did it on purpose.*
It took me a long while to get things down below wiped down and rinsed off with fresh
water and laid out once again to dry. *Then I went for a *swim to cool off, literally and emotionally, and to my dismay I found that the wake had actually taken off some large chips of the
bottom paint on my bow.*
Besides venting about this maddening ordeal, this leads me to my question. How can I touch up the
bottom paint without having my marina do it? Two of the chips, about the size of silver dollars, are right at the waterline. I could weight the boom to heel the
boat and touch up with
anti-fouling paint. The other chips are a little farther below the waterline, about 6 vertical inches perhaps, almost at the centerline of the boat about a foot back from the bow. They are three linear chips about eight inches long and an inch wide each. These ones seem harder to get to by weighing down the boat, although I could try getting a lot of weight in the stern an leveraging the boom as well.*
Any suggestions on this? It's only July and my boat will be in the
water for three more months, and
marine growth is a really big problem where I am (Brooklyn, NY). I really can't afford to have the marina fix this for me right now. How about letting the boat sit on some sand at low tide so the waterline drops about 6 inches and touching it up then?*How long does bottom
paint need to air dry before it's ready for the water? If anyone does suggest using the tide, how exactly do I execute this procedure safely?*
Any tips are greatly appreciated, along with anything else you can say to restore my faith in humanity.*