Grampian 26

[Guayas76]

Took possession of my new sailboat. Bottom of hull needs to be painted . Any recommendation on type of paint, body filler or fibreglass . There's a couple of scuff marks I want to patch up. I would like to do as much of the work myself. Any advice would be appreciated . Thanks⛵

[Mike OReilly]

Hi Guayas76, congrats on the boat. I'm sure she'll do you proud. My previous boat was a Grampian 34, and I've been around a number of 26s and 30s. All Gramps are good, solid, straightforward boats.

When you say hull needs painting, are you talking about anti-foul? If so, it depends on where you sail, and also what's already on the hull. The most common Great Lakes anti-foul types are some sort of freshwater ablative paint, like Interlux botomkote, or a hard paint like VC-17.

As for dealing with scuffs, it depends on how deep they are. If truly just surface scratches, then a hull paint might be enough. If it's into the gel coat, but not deeper, then epoxy with filler could likely be used. Get yourself a West System epoxy package, with properly matched pumps for resin and hardener. And then pick up an appropriate filler, likely 406 Colloidal Silica or 403 Microfibers. If the gouges go beyond the gel coat you may need to grind out a decent V and then fill with fibreglass (epoxy impregnated), and then finish with a 406 or 404 filler.

It's all fairly straight forward once you get going.

[Lake-Effect]

It's hard to recommend anything without seeing the bottom up close. If you don't have a surveyor's recommendation for refinishing the bottom, ask one of your sailing buddies to look at the bottom and make suggestions.

I visited our boat this afternoon. Too cold to fiberglass or paint yet, but you can start scraping and sanding if you're the hardy type.

[Guayas76]

Thanks for the info. Some scuffs appear to be just surface nicks. Will just start scraping and sanding for now. Ill be sailing on Lake Ontario

[Jim Quibell]

Get yourself a proper scraper from Home Hardware or similar. One with a carbide edge blade that you can replace when it gets worn out.
Last winter was nice for working on the bottom - not this year though. Last year I scraped 39 years of ablative paint from the bottom. Then I sanded it gently with 80, then 120, then 300 grit sandpaper with my orbital sander. Carefully filled any nicks or deep scratches with an epoxy/glass mix.
Then a coat of Interlux thinning spirits to totally remove any residue left.
Then I applied 2 coats of VC17. From that point onward, the boat only need one annual application of VC17 in the spring.
Do it right, and it will look like this -

[Guayas76]

Wow looks great, thanks for the tip. Where can I buy the epoxy/ glass mix and paint.

[Jim Quibell]

Just about every chandlery in your area has these items in their stock. Holland Marine (HMP) really know Grampians. They owned a G-26 for many years. They also stock many Grampian parts. Their prices are pretty good as well.

Good luck with her, and enjoy. They are fabulous boats.

[GordMay]

Congratulations on your new boat!

Boats used in fresh water often use “hard” antifoulings, like International VC Offshore, or Pettit SR-21.

[Guayas76]

Thanks for all the great advice . Can't wait for the better weather to start working⛵

[Ryan H]

If you're scraping off the old bottom paint anyway you may want to put on a couple of coats of interprotect. One gallon of interprotect did about two heavy coats for my G26. Cheapest bottom paint I found is at wholesale marine. If you sign up for their emails you'll get an extra 10% off the order too.

If you haven't already, you should check out the grampian owners forum. Its not very active but it can put you in contact with a bunch of other G26 owners in your area.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you here.
kind regards,