Not doing bottom paint. What can go wrong?

[Chotu]

Never in my life have I had the bottom of my boat look awful.

To me bottom paint is an important part of keeping the boat in good shape.

However, there is nowhere to haul out where I am. There might be a place. Waiting for them to open tomorrow.

But I’m wondering how much damage would be done to an epoxy boat if you did not clean the bottom. What can happen? I have never explored this terrible possibility.

What would happen if you just hired a diver to scrape every 6-8 weeks?

Certainly wouldn’t have a nice bottom, but will it damage the boat in any way?

How difficult would it be later to get it back to normal? Once I find somewhere to haul out?

[senormechanico]

What would a new car's paint job look like after a few years if you washed it every six to eight weeks while being parked under power lines and trees where birds hang out?
Would it ever look like new again?


Just musing...

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by senormechanico

What would a new car's paint job look like after a few years if you washed it every six to eight weeks while being parked under power lines and trees where birds hang out?
Would it ever look like new again?


Just musing...

But the question is can you get it back after that easily? And will it cause damage to the metal?

Maybe I just need to find a sandbar somewhere. This is getting stupid. Very difficult to find haul outs.

[CarlF]

Your boat won’t be damaged if you don’t use anti fouling paint. If it was a wooden boat you might worry about shipworms but worms don’t like epoxy.

Have a diver clean it once a month before hard growth really gets going. If it’s a very high growth area ask the diver about a quick wipe every two weeks. Likely less expensive than the $7000 or so to haul, prep and apply high quality bottom paint.

I assume you have some paint on the epoxy? Near the waterline UV could damaging uncovered epoxy.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Your boat won’t be damaged if you don’t use anti fouling paint. If it was a wooden boat you might worry about shipworms but worms don’t like epoxy.

Have a diver clean it once a month before hard growth really gets going. If it’s a very high growth area ask the diver about a quick wipe every two weeks. Likely less expensive than the $7000 or so to haul, prep and apply high quality bottom paint.

I assume you have some paint on the epoxy? Near the waterline UV could damaging uncovered epoxy.

No, there are not just random unpainted surfaces showing. I have an epoxy primer below the ablative paint. That doesn’t go away.


But That’s what I’m thinking. I was looking around online at different things and came up with one of my old threads from years ago. For a 50 foot monohull I was quoted $4000. I don’t even want to know what this boat would cost. I’m thinking $6000?

When I started building this boat you would get hauled out for like around $1000 and then you would do your bottom paint. And anything else you needed to do to your boat in the yard. Then you go back in the water. This used to typically take me one very productive weekend to do.

I’m actually not willing to pay $4000 or $6000 for bottom paint. At all. I’m not doing that. I will not. there is no way. That is a rip off.

Some of those barnacles really get on there pretty hard. But I guess a wire brush could get them off right? I mean, probably not a metal wire brush because that would start to abrade the paint away below it.

How do people get the barnacle bases off?

[smj]

We were quoted $4300 for our 40’ cat with 25’ beam 2 years ago. That was turnkey with one coat of bottom paint.
We ended up doing it ourselves for around $1500 with 2 coats of bottom paint. The lay days were about $120 per day, so we had 2 coats of bottom paint on and the boot top stripe touched up 22 hours after being set on the hard. Would have loved to have compounded and waxed the hull, but the costs to us were stupid.

[Cthoops]

If you’re near Connecticut, there is a marina in Essex that hauls multihulls.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by smj

We were quoted $4300 for our 40’ cat with 25’ beam 2 years ago. That was turnkey with one coat of bottom paint.
We ended up doing it ourselves for around $1500 with 2 coats of bottom paint. The lay days were about $120 per day, so we had 2 coats of bottom paint on and the boot top stripe touched up 22 hours after being set on the hard. Would have loved to have compounded and waxed the hull, but the costs to us were stupid.

This is more like what I am used to.

About $1000 for the haul out. BYOBP.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Cthoops

If you’re near Connecticut, there is a marina in Essex that hauls multihulls.

Chester Point Marina.

20ft max beam, unfortunately

[mlydon]

Beach it somewhere with a high tidal change, paint while it’s high & dry…..

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by mlydon

Beach it somewhere with a high tidal change, paint while it’s high & dry…..

Agreed. My 2nd post suggests this.

[markxengineerin]

Beach it somewhere with a high tidal change, paint while it’s high & dry…..

Do people actually do this in 2023? It takes me several days to do a good job of cleaning, sanding, then painting multiple coats on a 37' monohull. I can't imagine how awful it would turn out if I tried to do this in 1 tide swing. 1 coat of paint doesn't last very long, I go with 3, maybe 4 at the waterline, and it's nearly gone after a year of sailing. Would you try to block it up so you can paint the actual bottom? With what? Sounds awful all around!

[Knotical]

A few years ago I got a total bottom job (beadblasting, 4 barrier coats and 2 ablative coats) for ~4200, a few years after I paid 600 for 1 ablative coat, this year I paid >1000 for 1 ablative coat.

Yes, things are getting crazy and it is a big rip off, but we can’t paint the bottom ourselves around here, honestly, I wouldn’t even want to.

The more north you come the higher you will pay, maybe suck it up until you get your rig up, and then go down to that place in FL where you did it yourself and do it again.

[PineappleOrange]

I was recently quoted $7800 for blasting, 2 barrier coats, and 2 ablative coats, with haulout and launch. I don't know if this is typically New England pricing, but that was way more than I want to pay. Only 24' of waterline, 4' draft.

[JPA Cate]

Chotu,

I don't know what you're physically capable of doing, but the grounding and painting, even if you put it on wee blocks that will not get painted under, you're going to be groveling in the sand, you start paining from the bottom of the keel upwards and you don't have long to work. It all sounds good when you say it fast, but we've a friend with an Allures 45, who did this where we were. Yes, it's a mono, and your boat probably has more area to paint, and it was awful. It is hard to get rid of the barnacle bases, lots of high pressure sanding, down by your toes or overhead if you lie down in the damp sand. Think it through, not in the generals but the specifics. If you want a good job, you want the boat where you can really work on it, and be ready to start painting as soon as you have the surfaces prepared. How you choose to achieve this is up to you.

Ann