Bottom Job

[Latecomer]

Greetings Guys and Gals,

The time has come for me to do some "Bottom work" to my boat, and would like to know what are the recommended required products and steps for doing a fairly decent job. Yes, this will be my first time doing a bottom job; need to know specific product(s), procedures, and particularly to seal up around the keel joint area. See pictures.

George

[coopec43]

I've recently put about X5 coats of Barrier Coat followed by x3 coats of anti-foul but my yacht isn't in the water yet.

Maybe some of the videos here can give you a lead?

https://www.google.com/search?source...4dUDCAg&uact=5

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by Latecomer

Greetings Guys and Gals,

The time has come for me to do some "Bottom work" to my boat, and would like to know what are the recommended required products and steps for doing a fairly decent job. Yes, this will be my first time doing a bottom job; need to know specific product(s), procedures, and particularly to seal up around the keel joint area. See pictures.

George

George,
Besides asking for suggestions here, may want to check the various Mariners owners groups for their suggestions.
Is that a Mariner 28? Nice looking boat.
Besides the keel joint that you've already mentioned, take a look at your rudder. It appears from the photo that it may have slipped down 1-2".
The only other suggestion is to check your thru hulls. From the photos, it appears you changed at least one already.

[tkeithlu]

"and particularly to seal up around the keel joint area. See pictures."

That joint caught my eye. Is there a reason you are chipping paint along that line? If by some horrid chance you have a wobbly keel, this is the time to address that.

Bottom painting is much more complicated than I thought my first time through. It is dependent on temperature, exact preparation of the body, and other factors that take it to me outside the routine "paint it." There are reasons the good stuff is labelled "professional use only." You might quiz your local yard as to their experience and expertise in one or another "system," and consider having them coach you as if you were a beginning employee. Making a mistake on this one is expensive.

[Bill O]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

"and particularly to seal up around the keel joint area. See pictures."

That joint caught my eye. Is there a reason you are chipping paint along that line? If by some horrid chance you have a wobbly keel, this is the time to address that.

Hard to tell from the pic on the starbrd side of the keel, but it doesn't appear to have the same break in it. Depending where the OP is located there may have been water behind the fill and it popped it out when it froze on the hard (can see some minor cracks above it also) This can happen over time when on the hard in cold climates and may not be much more than that. Would be good to look at it though.

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

Bottom painting is much more complicated than I thought my first time through. It is dependent on temperature, exact preparation of the body, and other factors that take it to me outside the routine "paint it." There are reasons the good stuff is labelled "professional use only." You might quiz your local yard as to their experience and expertise in one or another "system," and consider having them coach you as if you were a beginning employee. Making a mistake on this one is expensive.

I hear what you are saying that some jobs maybe better left to the professionals, but how do you gain experience if you don't try?? If you can read/follow written instructions, think that this job can be done reasonably well by an attentive person. Bonus if you have someone there with experience willing to show you some good tips.

While sometimes the internet can have bad info on it (so can some "helpful" individuals), overall its much better now to find good instructional videos on "how to do it" than in my time (darn close to pre-computer) making the learning curve much easier.

[Sailmonkey]

What’s on the boat now?

Is it ablative or hard?
This first question will write your future for you.

If it’s hard, you can overcoat with most anything (certain exceptions).

If it’s ablative and you want hard, you’re removing all of the old paint and starting over.

If it’s ablative and you want ablative, just lightly sand and repaint (a few exceptions apply here too)

For the keel, generally cracking on the trailing edge with no signs on the leading edge is simply the paint cracking over a sealant/filler. You can check the keel bolts for tightness, then just clean and fair this connection.

[islandermike]

Check your keelbolts. Water can intrude in that crack, and rot out the keel studs Remove one at a time, clean out old sealer,inspect. Pack with dolfonite and cotton string, or 4200 and tighten to spec...if stud is good.

[Happydrv]

While It's sitting on the keel tighten the keel bolts.
This is a good start in your research:
https://www.westsystem.com/wp-conten...anual-2015.pdf

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, George.

[Latecomer]

Originally Posted by coopec43

I've recently put about X5 coats of Barrier Coat followed by x3 coats of anti-foul but my yacht isn't in the water yet.

Maybe some of the videos here can give you a lead?

https://www.google.com/search?source...4dUDCAg&uact=5

Hi Coopec,
Thanks for your input.

[Latecomer]

GordMay,

Thank you.

[Latecomer]

Originally Posted by Bill O

George,
Besides asking for suggestions here, may want to check the various Mariners owners groups for their suggestions.
Is that a Mariner 28? Nice looking boat.
Besides the keel joint that you've already mentioned, take a look at your rudder. It appears from the photo that it may have slipped down 1-2".
The only other suggestion is to check your thru hulls. From the photos, it appears you changed at least one already.

Bill O,

Thanks for your response.

Good observation with reference to the rudder, I belive you are spot on, in that, the picture was taken by the previous owner at a time (presumably) when rudder needed some attention - previous owner did indicate having to address the rudder.

Yes, it's a Peter Canning Mariner 28. It's a good looking boat for sure.

I'm heading to the boatyard soon to fully assess what I actually need to procure for the bottom job. I will take fresh pictures to share with the group.

Cheers

[Latecomer]

[QUOTE=tkeithlu;3111884]"and particularly to seal up around the keel joint area. See pictures."

That joint caught my eye. Is there a reason you are chipping paint along that line? If by some horrid chance you have a wobbly keel, this is the time to address that.

Bottom painting is much more complicated than I thought my first time through. It is dependent on temperature, exact preparation of the body, and other factors that take it to me outside the routine "paint it." There are reasons the good stuff is labelled "professional use only." You might quiz your local yard as to their experience and expertise in one or another "system," and consider having them coach you as if you were a beginning employee. Making a mistake on this one is expensive.[/QUOT

I didn't do anything to the boat except the electric conversion....I purchased the boat as a project that the previous owner decided to sell, so I can only presume that the keel issue may have resulted during the transportation of the boat, because the seller did say that he did recently acquired the boat and had transported it, or simply from the effects of cold weather..

In any case, I'll be certain to check and torque the keel bolts.

Thanks for your input, I really do appreciate it.

[Latecomer]

Guys,

Will visit my boatyard to do an assessment to see if I can make a determination as to what type of bottom paint is currently on the boat, and to see what I'll need in terms of materials.

Stay tuned.

[Latecomer]

Made boatyard run recently, and I wasn't able to definitively ascertain what type of paint is currently on the boat; it seems hard (like modified epoxy), but appeared more to be ablative due to the dull appearance of the paint. I performed a rub test, but nothing came off...I observed where the there are some chipping,
and the chip appeared hard. In retrospect, I should have taken a sample of the paint chip to West Marine close by or Home Depot to see if a determination could be made. In any case, I have decided to take it down to the hull, because where the chipping of the paint occurred I can see that the gelcoat is in poor condition - the history of the boat, is that, from the time of my purchase in 2018 from previous (second) owner, and subsequent to the pasting of the original owner, it was said that boat been sitting on the hard for 15 years. So, if my calculation is correct ; (2018 -1979=39 - 15=24 + 2=26) the boat has been sitting on the hard for a total of 26 years, and presumably have been used moderately for 15 years; that's is a longtime for any bottom paint job to be still reliable.

Based on said calculations in conjunction with the actual physical condition of the current state of the bottom paint, I have decided to do a thorough bottom job.
Areas of particular interest for me will be the type of filler/sealant to use at the keel to hull joint, gelcoat, paint, etc.

Fyi, the boat is headed south in the warmer climate of Florida and the Caribbean.
Any guidance will be greatly appreciated.