Bottom Paint or Not?

picturethis

          

I just purchased a 2000 272 Captiva with 163 hours with no bottom paint (trailered its whole live).  I live in Michigan & planning on getting a slip for the summer (5 months)

But not sure if I should paint it,  Id rather keep the hull paint free. but I also dont want blisters to form from sitting in the water   I could pull it out every 3 weeks to acid wash the bottom to keep it somewhat clean

Any thoughts on this?

Black_Diamond

Personally, save yourself the grief and bottom paint it. Just my .02 go with a hard coat if a few mph means anything to you.

MarkB

If you are permanently on the water, that is don't take it out of the water every time it's used, then for sure bottom paint. It's not even a question for me. Hulls can be severely damaged without a proper barrier coat and anti fouling paint.

Michael T

I didn't like acid washing my hull, even once a year and the high pressure spray nozzles often used by marinas to get the job done fast almost guarantee osmosis (blistering) As an old salt once told me - don't put anything on your boat you wouldn't handle with bare hands and never put a spray on your boat that is harder than you would want on your (well he said something else here - I'll just say) fingers.:-) MT

picturethis

But are you devaluing your boat by adding bottom paint to it?    I dont plan on keeping it more the 3 years

Michael T

Anyone I have talked to says that putting bottom coat on your hull adds value. BUT - make sure you take a picture of your hull first to show the dealer or person you are selling it to (in the future) that you were not forced to bottom paint to fix an osmosis hull - instead - you did it to protect your hull. That said, if you are only going to keep it three years max, washing it and waxing it yearly might work. It's going to be close. MT

picturethis

are these late 90s - early 2000 rinkers known to have osmosis hull issues?      Id hate to roll the dice on it if its an inherient problem

Dream_Inn

I know around here that wouldn't work unless you either had a lift or bottom painted.  Maybe you could check into keeping her on a lift?  I am one that does like to have a clean bottom if possible, but I've also been doing the lift thing for over 8 years.  My current boat, I purchased almost 2 years ago and really wished it didn't have bottom paint.  Just this week, with her on land, I'm wondering if I should just touch up the few bare spots since I'm kind of stuck with the bottom paint.  I've seen others in my marina just let the paint wear off.  I would think that would be even harder to sell down the road and not necessarily a good thing for the hull.

As far as keeping the bottom clean, there are good products out there that don't hurt the bottom and you could use with bare hands...just sayin'.

Black_Diamond

Regardless of boat model, any bare (non bottom coated) fiberglass hull sitting in the water all season will end up with problems: blistering at a minimum.  Then you'll be double spending money to fix the blisters and then painting anyways.  Either get a lift as noted before by others or bottom coat. 

Michael T

Late 90s or 2000s Rinkers were NOT known for gelcoat defects. If anything Rinker hulls are known to be among the best anywhere. There is a limit to how thick gel coat can be sprayed into a mold or it just cracks. Rinker sprays as much as it possibly can. Rinker gel coat is one on the thickest mil sprays in boatdom. That said, (as BD ststed with 100% accuracy), if you leave ANY hull in water for a few seasons it WILL suffer water penetration. gelcoat is a water shedder NOT a water barrier.If you do not use a boat lift and do not bottom coat - you must as a bare (no pun intended) minimum, wash it thoroughly and apply a high quality wax to the bottom. You can probably pick-up a very reasonably priced lift for your size of boat then sell the lift if/when you move up a boat size. Is that an option where you plan to keep your boat? MT 

JoeStang

I left mine in the water all last season. I dont want to bottom paint, as I feel I will eventually get a trailer for it and could pull it in & out to clean as needed.

I did get out and scrub the hull at least twice a month in the warm months, and I could get 90% of the real bad algae off. Once the water & weather got cold I didnt wash it, and I had a nice coat of green in the fall. A pressure wash & scrubbing with Zep cleaner got it white as new. It took more scrubbing than I expected, so I'll probably have it pulled out of the water once or twice to do a 100% job mid-season.

I personally wouldnt bottom paint a 272 unless you start to see blisters and terrible growth.

I always keep an eye out for a used lift to put in my marina, as that would be the best of both worlds.

MarkB

A couple of things:

From the mouth of my gelcoat/fibreglass guy - he has rarely seen any Rinkers with defective gelcoats/fibreglass work.  He has seen a lot of top brands needing rework.

Having said that gelcoat is no impermeable - water does get into it. A good gelcoat allows water to also get OUT of it. If this is not in balance, you get blisters.  Once you get blisters - it is a pain in the A$$ to fix. Do not wait until you get a blister to apply the bottom paint.  That is like saying where a bullet proof vest only after you get shot.  Sorry Joe, don't mean to offend here, but this is based on the advice of MANY experts.

In addition, a proper bottom paint (and keep the invoice to prove it), will add value/uphold the value of the boat.  One of the key things a surveyor will look for is hull blistering.  If he knows that a good bottom coat was applied on a hull that was in good shape, that will go a long way in terms of his recommendation.

There are other things to consider - algae growth will be a pain to get off, you will spend money and time doing this. Eventually the bottom coat pays for itself.  Also, algae growth slows your boat down A LOT - it took 5 - 7 mph off my Tahoe 20' bow rider - that's when I learned my lesson. Think of all the extra gas you are burning - $100's over the course of a summer.  A good bottom coat will keep your gas bill from creeping (and it's high enough already!).

 

Like I said above, it's a no brainer for me.

Captain_Rob

What would be a good bottom paint to apply by at will last awhile.....

MarkB

Interlux interprotect barrier coat and micron csc anti fouling.

JoeStang

Wouldnt a "better" investment versus barrier coat/bottom paint be trying to figure out a way to get the boat on a lift/hoist? I agree that a 30'+ cruiser that sits in the water all season every season should have barrier/paint, but a 272 is close to100% legally trailerable (doubt 6" extra beam would attract too much attention), and is easy to get a reasonable trailer or hoist to keep the bottom blister and algae free.

It'd probably be in the $1500 range to paint a 272, and a used hoist would be more $$ up front but keep the bottom factory fresh.

If we end up staying in our current marina I'm going to strongly consider getting some type of lift (most likely non-permanent) to keep the bottom clean.

Black_Diamond

Not sure by you Joe, but a lift in my marina has to pulled and reset every year due to ice, so you have a never ending cost every year.  In salt water or a place where the water has little freezing, i would agree with you.  We usually see the gofast boats on lifts by me.

JoeStang

Thats very true, which is why I would likely have to get some sort of inflatable or floating chamber lift that could be easily removed for the cold months. Theres a couple guys in my marina with this style, and they seem to work well.

JoeStang

Schlub

most people agree don't use bottom paint if you don't have to. mine already had bottom paint but it looks terrible. as I researched bottom paints I learned if the boat is trailered the bottom paint will fail prematurely as it's designed for in the water. and then I found this. check out the link http://www.simplicityboats.com/latexcarnel.html

Michael T

When I trailered boats and when I had boat lifts (for 20 years) I never used bottom coatings, just wax. 

My first cruiser, an EC 310 was going top be left in low-fouling fresh water (6 months of the season) so I waxed the bottom twice. Big job but I did it by hand. Worked and looked great.

Second cruiser, an EC 360 was going to be left in the same low fouling, fresh water too (about 6 months of the year). No way was I going to wax that hull bottom every year by hand.

So I had the bottom properly prepared, 2 stage barrier coats applied and a 2 part epoxy multi seasonal final bottom coat applied. Looks great and works great. IMO worth every penny, now and certainly at resale. As the reputation of the guy who did it is legendary.

I still hand wax the sides, transom, drives, non-skid top sides and hard top....and that's more than enough for me! Geez makes me tired just thinking about it - friggin' glad we did it last fall! :-). 

RiverJunkie

Here is my anecdotal 2 cents.  We had a Wellcraft 210 Elite CC and a Renken 16' BR in the past that we kept in the water on the Potomac river for months at a time over several years without bottom paint.  We never had a problem....though I know problems can happen.  They would get pretty nasty over time...the Potomac isn't the best environment for keeping a hull clean.  I would think the colder/cleaner waters up in MI might be more forgiving.  It would be easy for you to pull the boat on to the trailer every few weeks to see how it is doing.

We would powerwash it right as we removed it from the water (if possible)...the scum comes off very easily before it dries....getting it clean after it dries is a much more labor intensive operation.  It will wipe off with your finger when fresh out of the water.  We would always give them a good wax after.

Our last boat (actually still have it) a Bayliner 2355 EC had bottom paint on it when we bought it....I think from the dealer.  We have had a lot of problems with it flaking off during the season.  Every time we pull the boat for the year there are a bunch of areas that we need to patch up by hand.  I think the dealer screwed up the installation of the paint.  It must have still had wax from the mold on it so the paint did not adhere very well.  If you do paint it....make sure it is prepped properly!

Michael T

If the paint is flaking off there was definitely an installation/maintenance issue. Failure to remove mold wax is a big issue that dealers miss. Using the wrong type of paint regarding ablative speed is another and this issue is further aggravated by painting over that type of situation without sanding the old bottom coat down a bit to prep it. Then there's the big issue of painting over an original bottom coat with a paint that will not chemically adhere - for example water based can go over epoxies, enamels etc. but not the reverse. As for the value bottom paint - it is my opinion that a boat not trailered or on a lift that spends more than 6 consecutive months in the water on a regular basis will develop osmosis damage, even if waxed unless - Neptune is smiling on your hull!