My first boat project: scraping and painting the hull

[MidlifeCrisis]

So anyhow, my head is filled with possible boat projects right now, but I want to get the boat into water, and get out sailing. First thing I need to do is scrape and paint the hull with anti foul. I am at a marina that will let me do my own work. The existing anti-foul appears perfectly fine, except the boat has been on the hard, and some of it is flaking off. My thought is is...

Take a paint scraper and scrape off everything that is flaking off. Use a sander to to scrape up the surface so the new paint has a place to key to. Get the paint, and paint it on with some paint rollers.

Marina offered to soda blast the hull for 2k (verbal quote) but my feeling is... There is only the one layer of paint on the hull right now. The paint appears basically new, just the boat has been on the hard for the winter.

Thoughts?

[SV Siren]

I'd go with a carbide scraper and have at it. Your thoughts seem fine to me with the rest of what you are proposing. If it is only one layer, I would not worry about it. One point to consider is what is the existing anti foul? Will it be compatible with what you are thinking of going with? Many of us Great Lake sailors use VC-17, and you cannot put anything else but VC-17 over that without totally removing all the bottom paint. Otherwise follow application instructions and have a great summer on the water.

[tkeithlu]

Pay very careful attention to the application instructions for whatever anti-fouling you choose. Roughing the surface is basic, but as SV Siren notes, there may be a compatibility issue, and there may be a wash needed before painting, or a temperature restriction, or a bunch of other problems that really need to be attended to, or you will end up with peeling bottom paint, just where you can't do anything about it with the boat in the water.

First questions: Ablative or hard coat? Can you duplicate the make/model of the existing paint? If it is unknown, then the blasting looks more attractive since it lets you start from bare hull.

Think long term here. What will get your bottom off to a good start, so that future jobs are sand/roll only?