Not doing bottom paint. What can go wrong?

[sailingharry]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

OMG

Serious question for you. I can't imagine spraying bottom paint, at least not a true anti-fouling paint, because they are such a thick liquid and you need such a thick application. I don't think I've ever seen bottom paint sprayed. Although I would not be surprised if high-end racers who place a heavy focus on smooth and lightweight bottoms might well find a way to spray a less effective but faster paint.

So seriously, what use cases spray bottom paint? And do those users hang out on cruise centric cruisersforum, or race centric sailinganarchy?

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Bases? No. Everything else? Yes.

I did not get a Bahco. I got the one at Ace hardware where I was located.

Mostly, that didn’t work because the fouling was tremendous. No bottom work on it since February in Tampa for a lot of reasons. I used a metal 5 in 1 painter’s tool which made quick work of everything but many of the bases.

I am under the impression I have to sand them off, so i would have to be on land. Maybe not?

Maybe the pull scraper will take the bases off? They are huge

Maybe I’m wrong and when I take another crack at it on the sandbar it won’t be so bad. I did it in the water.

I’m going to take another crack at it (pun?) on the sandbar. It was a weekend and too busy to do it when I arrived and I wanted to get started. So I did it in the water.

I’m trying to find back up plans basically.

You didn’t get the Bahco scraper and you didn’t beach it? No, while diving you can’t do it because you push yourself away from the boat. No, it doesn’t work with knock-off scrapers that I have tried. The knife in a Bahco scraper is on a different level and for many years I scraped all barnacle bases off the hull with it and we only did bottom paint every 5-6 years so your growth and your surface area is nothing like ours. I posted an Amazon link to it.

Edit: you only use the Bahco for the bases, nothing else. You start with the drywall taping knife I also posted. That will take off everything incl. some of the bases and you use the Bahco scraper for the bases that stayed behind. Sanding takes 2-3 times as long.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

You didn’t get the Bahco scraper and you didn’t beach it? No, while diving you can’t do it because you push yourself away from the boat. No, it doesn’t work with knock-off scrapers that I have tried. The knife in a Bahco scraper is on a different level and for many years I scraped all barnacle bases off the hull with it and we only did bottom paint every 5-6 years so your growth and your surface area is nothing like ours. I posted an Amazon link to it.

OK, this is very encouraging. Thank you.

I did use the little suction cup handle thing. So I was attached to the boat and could push. But it was not at full force like if I was standing on the ground.

This is really good news. Maybe I can do better on the ground.

I don’t have anywhere to receive packages. That’s why I went to Ace. There are no Amazon lockers here. So I couldn’t do it. I have to use the one I have.

But it should be fine. How long does your blade last? I have 4 blades. Plus I have another 4” straight scraper that has a blade that is way too sharp. I scratched some stuff up when I started with that. I changed to the 5 in 1 because I was cutting into the primer.

I guess I will just report back after I try this again on the sandbar.

It’s an evolving situation. I do hope it goes well and I don’t need to go haul out somewhere. That would save tremendous amounts of time and money. The closest DIY places that can haul me are days away. If all goes well on the sandbar, I will just be able to focus on finding a crane that can be located next to the water for mast stepping


Answer to your edit: got it. And kind of figured that out myself. I started with that pulling scraper and it did not work because the growth was too big. it was just bouncing over everything. Once I got the growth off it was just bases and I will try scraping those bases with the pull scraper

I did use my big taping knife and it was no good. The reason being that it tried to takeoff too many things at one time so I couldn’t even push it hard enough to get through everything. It was difficult. The smaller painters tool 5 in 1 was perfect. It ripped through everything easily. Of course I had more strokes to make, but it was well worth it because each stroke pulled off everything in one shot.

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by Chotu

OK, this is very encouraging. Thank you.

I did use the little suction cup handle thing. So I was attached to the boat and could push. But it was not at full force like if I was standing on the ground.

This is really good news. Maybe I can do better on the ground.

I don’t have anywhere to receive packages. That’s why I went to Ace. There are no Amazon lockers here. So I couldn’t do it. I have to use the one I have.

But it should be fine. How long does your blade last? I have 4 blades. Plus I have another 4” straight scraper that has a blade that is way too sharp. I scratched some stuff up when I started with that. I changed to the 5 in 1 because I was cutting into the primer.

I guess I will just report back after I try this again on the sandbar.

It’s an evolving situation. I do hope it goes well and I don’t need to go haul out somewhere. That would save tremendous amounts of time and money. The closest DIY places that can haul me are days away. If all goes well on the sandbar, I will just be able to focus on finding a crane that can be located next to the water for mast stepping

A 5-in-1 scraper? Oh my… so you are now in the area where your family/friends live but nobody can help you get an Amazon package? You’re hard to follow sometimes Chotu

[Chotu]

Here’s a 5 in 1.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

A 5-in-1 scraper? Oh my… so you are now in the area where your family/friends live but nobody can help you get an Amazon package? You’re hard to follow sometimes Chotu

Yes. A boat is not located next to your family and friends. It took me miles of walking and 4 hours of public transportation to get to people from the closest possible harbor. Shouldn’t be that hard to follow is it? Lol this is why I want to get a motorcycle or something on here because it’s ridiculous. It is annoying being stuck at the waters edge all the time.

Also, the sandbar is not located near people. It’s another day farther away. I’m near it right now. I moved much farther away so that I could do the scraping.

I don’t know why people have so much trouble following these things. You guys have boats. You understand this stuff lol

[s/v Jedi]

Well what can I say? May be just that you don’t need to bother trying this at a sandbar or beach, it’s not gonna work.

Do you really think that I would push that Bahco scraper when a 5-in-1 scraper can do this? Don’t you think that in the past 20 years of scraping my boat, I didn’t try dozens of scrapers, not just as bought but also sharpened on a stone etc.? The only work for a 5-in-1 scraper is on the propeller and shaft, which you don’t have.

A Bahco scraper will scrape them off. If you want, you can precisely scrape a layer of glass off with it. I finished all 64’ long, 16’ wide hull with that scraper in two hours just a couple of months ago… without replacing the blade which is 3 years old.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

Well what can I say? May be just that you don’t need to bother trying this at a sandbar or beach, it’s not gonna work.

Do you really think that I would push that Bahco scraper when a 5-in-1 scraper can do this? Don’t you think that in the past 20 years of scraping my boat, I didn’t try dozens of scrapers, not just as bought but also sharpened on a stone etc.? The only work for a 5-in-1 scraper is on the propeller and shaft, which you don’t have.

A Bahco scraper will scrape them off. If you want, you can precisely scrape a layer of glass off with it. I finished all 64’ long, 16’ wide hull with that scraper in two hours just a couple of months ago… without replacing the blade which is 3 years old.

Holy crap. Two hours for your boat? That’s fantastic!

That gives me a lot of hope that I will be able to do this in just a couple of hours myself given that my pull scraper isn’t the same brand as yours.

I have to admit the ace brand isn’t that bad actually. Do you have some things from Ace? They are decent tools mostly.

The pull scraper looks just like the one you have.

I do have 4 blades for it. I should be good for one scraping right?

Looking at your post, I think may be there was a miscommunication. The 5 in 1 is instead of the sheetrocking knife. It’s for the first pass. The sheet rocking knife does not work because it grabs too much growth at once and I could not push it through. it is way too fouled.

I’m not questioning your expertise. There is just a matter of logistics. I could only get the pull scraper that was available to me. I’m sure it will be half as good as yours. So maybe it will take me twice as long.

My experience in this topic is hauling out the boat for a pressure wash, scuffing up my ablative paint with a single drag of sandpaper, then applying a new coat. Then repeat in 3 years. I have been doing it this way for decades. Never had to get in the water or dry out at a sandbar to do this before.

I’ve also never allowed my bottom to be anything like this before in my life.

There were no availabilities to haul out in Florida while I was there. Then I had to hurry up to the rigger. Then my boat sat for a few months while somebody did nothing and took my money. Then I had to move it out of there to up here. And now here we are. Fouled as can be.

I can’t say I have much experience with this because I’ve never let my boat get like this before. I’ve never actually had barnacles like this.

[s/v Jedi]

Okay, for very thick fouling, I prefer a thick putty knife that I sharpen…hope you have a bench grinder but a vice and metal file will work too.

I use this one: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-3-...-HUS/310955325

And the 3” you can push through while diving if the edge is sharpened and you use gloves. I use these, which work under water: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000630448

[Fore and Aft]

SailingHarry I am not sure if you are being serious but 50% of the yachts, I survey would have sprayed antifoul. Here's a photo below of a yacht I surveyed on Monday that had sprayed antifoul. It's all done by airless spray equipment and if you look closely at the photo, you can just see some overspray on the ground. Nice smooth finish and quickly done. There's no thinning of the paint, it's all about the tip size on the spray gun.
I have been involved with slipping cats on trailers. Once we did it on a truck chassis on a farmer's property. It was wild, the truck chassis was too narrow for the cat and the suspension hadn't been removed. So, we had this 40' cat lurching on a grass paddock as we towed it to a shed. We still had the steering wheel in place so one guy was steering while the tractor towed the cat. The trouble with trailers is some cats have outboard pods or other extrusions on the underwings making it difficult to haul them out of the water with a trailer.
So Chotu that means extra crew to sort out slipping a bigger cat, a 35-foot monohull drives into the travel lift, gets lifted and cleaned then put into cradle. A one-man job done in an hour. Slightly slower with a big cat on the big travel lift and another person helps the travel lift operator. But that's a multi-million dollar machine. I am not sure what your issue is with the money. You keep talking about setting up a business and I assume you want to make a profit. So do these boatyards, no one is a charity and boatyards are expensive to own and operate.
Cheers

[skipperpete]

I have very successfully used the BAHCO scraper and the “blades” are tungsten carbide, after a lot of use, I’m still on the original blade. I suppose it could be sharpened if necessary using a diamond disk in an angle grinder ( I sharpen tungsten tig electrodes and cemented carbide drill bits with this method) but replacement inserts are not expensive.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by sailingharry

Serious question for you.

Serious answer- yes, you can spray on anti fouling paint. It is a common method of application amongst both serious racers and those who simply want their boats to go fast. Never having done it, I cannot tell you the specifics of the process. But it is done, all the time.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Serious answer- yes, you can spray on anti fouling paint. It is a common method of application amongst both serious racers and those who simply want their boats to go fast. Never having done it, I cannot tell you the specifics of the process. But it is done, all the time.

Welp….

I chose the wrong “sandbar”. Unknown from looking at the satellite view, the banks are too steep and it doesn’t go all the way under at high tide so the part I can use in the tidal zone will have the boat at a bad angle. As in outboards maybe going under or taking on water through some holes astern.

No good.

I got 1/4-1/2 of it scraped already from the surface, only 24” draft and narrow hulls means you can almost reach the whole thing from the surface.

Motors sounded different (lighter sound) and I picked up a knot at cruising RPM.

Now I’m wondering:

How should I set myself up to do this a little bit at a time so I can just do it in the water?

Rope to grab? The little suction handle thing? Or just Scraper on a pole from the dinghy? I did all the scraping from the dinghy so far holding myself in place with a suction handle. There is like 12” at the at the bottom where the rocker is deepest I can’t reach.

I’m quoting fstbttms because he probably knows how to best set up to scrape.

I’ll try the pull scraper on the barnacle bases today.

I’m also getting quotes for Coppercoat, which is ok to have people apply since I can’t apply it anyway thanks to it just being epoxy and copper powder.

But for now? I think id rather just scrape things clean and keep up with it a couple times a month from the warm, dry dinghy.

Rudders kick up so I can lift those to scrape.

[Chotu]

Report: like butter!!!

The pull scraper takes the barnacle bases off sooooooo easily!

I am somewhat shocked at how easily they come off.

It’s unfortunate I picked the wrong sandbar. But, forget it. I’m just going to do this in the water at anchor wherever I am. I need to set up in such a way to make it easy to do at anchor.

Ideally once I get it all up to standards and clean, I’ll keep up with it from above the water which is completely doable with my 24” draft

[AKA-None]

For underwater scraping could you drop a line under and around, tightly and hold yourself while scraping?