Bottom Painting Campanies

JimGuy341

Does anyone have any experience with Great Lakes Marine Painting?  They offer bottom sanding and painting.  They say they have been in business since 2011 but only recently developed an online profile.  Our bottom needs painting and I'm weighing the option of doing it myself vs paying.

TonyG13

No experience with the company, but is your bottom currently painted?

If not, I would highly recommend getting it done by a professional for the initial application. They would have all the equipment - and especially know-how to get the bottom prepped and finished properly. It's a big job to do on your own. (Not impossible, just a long tedious process.)

Since you're on the Great Lakes they'll probably use something like Micron CSC (most popular bottom around me), which is alblative, so once it's done properly the first time, in subsequent years you should be able to maintain it on your own with minimal prep and effort.

Liberty44140

Getting the old off is the hard part. Assume they will be soda blasting or blasting of some kind? After that it’s pretty darn easy to do the barrier cote and bottom paint yourself (although there is a strong case that barrier coat is not needed on these boats). Sounds like you plan to pay to have it all done though. I would make sure to confirm they plan to take it down to gelcoat. Make sure to use a multi year ablative paint so that you only need to re coat every 5 seasons or more. 

TonyG13

Was looking at what web presence they have and looks like they are a new company?

And from what I could tell their pricing seems awfully low. Their quote for a 33' is $850.

Two gallons of Micron CSC retails for about $400, so can't see how they'd even cover their costs (travel, protective equipment, etc.) at those rates.

I'd ask them a lot more detailed questions like what their process is, what brand coatings they use, travel charges, etc.

Liberty44140

Agree, $850 is what it should cost just to soda blast the bottom of a 33 down to gelcoat.