bottom paint or not

Michael T

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JC290

The algae on Lake Erie is a very good reason IMO from what I've seen to paint a bottom. Mine is the water on average from the middle of April until the end of October if weather permits I will push to first or second week of November. That being when I was a rack guy I never painted and thought bottom was ugly, now I love my bottom paint a good run and she is clean. Made the dealer throw the paint in the deal. Only guys I know with out are trailer and rack guys. Oh and the go fast guys. Just my two cents

earl1z19

My 246 was painted this year. I would typically pull the boat 3 times a year and clean the bottom. I wanted to keep it looking pristine and original.
I used Pettit barrier coating and then followed up with their Vivid White Paint. It looks awesome and from 10 feet you cant tell its been painted. it has held up well all season and made keeping the boat nice much easier not to mention the peace of mind the barrier coat offers. Well worth the investment for a boat left in the water all year. i have not noticed any loss of performance at all.

DZ

earl1z19 said:

My 246 was painted this year. I would typically pull the boat 3 times a year and clean the bottom. I wanted to keep it looking pristine and original.
I used Pettit barrier coating and then followed up with their Vivid White Paint. It looks awesome and from 10 feet you cant tell its been painted. it has held up well all season and made keeping the boat nice much easier not to mention the peace of mind the barrier coat offers. Well worth the investment for a boat left in the water all year. i have not noticed any loss of performance at all.

Have Vivid white on our 246 too, and it's great. No pulling out mid season to clean off river scum.

Michael T

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bigal6030

I have bought a couple boats that were slipped for many seasons. None of the boats ever received bottom paint. Once cleaned and waxed after a season in a slip they looked like new. No blisters. I plan on slipping my new used boat and I do not plan on painting.  Hull looks great. 

MIKES342

Check with Happy Days Boating in Port Clinton, they are the Rinker dealer for that area.  If you keep your boat in the water it must have a barrier coat usually several coats.  Since a barrier coats will prevent the fiberglass from absorbing water.  Then the anti fouling paint.  

There re was a time when I felt the same as your dealer.  Just try getting under a boat and using very caustic chemicals to clean it.  Or pay $ 800. Or more for your dealer to do it.  A pressure wash will not clean a bottom of a boat that doesn't have bottom paint. 

If you are keeping the boat on a trailer or lift you don't need bottom paint.  If not you will pay more for the acid wash than you will loose in resale value.

Britinusa

Im new to boating but my 1989 has no bottom paint and its always been kept on the water for the season, the bottom came up like new when i cleaned it, is there a difference with new gel coat?

nhsd

Britinusa, just look around at all of those other boats docked on the Beaver River. How many have bottom paint? Damned few. I boat in that pool (I trailer and put in at Monaca when I am not down river a few miles in the Marietta OH pool) and I almost never see a boat with bottom paint. My dad always kept his boats in the Ohio from March/April until Sept/Oct and never bottom painted and never had an issue.

Capt Ron

If you boat in fresh water you don't need to bottom coat your hull. I have a 320 '07 from new and keep it in the water all season. Clean up is easy and never any blisters at all. One boat surveyor once told me that waxing a clean bottom is not good for the hull because the wax will lock in water to the hull. I only clean it in the fall and polish it in the spring and my boat hull stills looks as good as the day it was delivered. Bottom paints do leech into the water so this was the main reason I didn't paint it. However, salty's need to bottom paint so it's highly recommended it's done by a professional...

Michael T

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MarkB

A barrier coat should be applied before the bottom paint, antagonizing layer. The barrier coat does not leach into the water. Without an undercoat in most water systems algae will cost the hull, which does affect performance and is not easy to clean off. That is first hand experience. Now believe what you want. 

Michael T

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Black_Diamond

I know in my neck of the woods, virtually every boat that is slipped has bottom paint.  Exceptions are the ones on lifts and always the one odd-ball..and seeing them pulled at the end of the season is not pretty.  You never (ok strong word) see a sailboat sans bottom paint if it is slipped.  I'd have all kinds of fuzzy (and a few years ago probably zebra mussels) stuff on the bottom if I did not have bottom paint.  I'm pretty sure, at least 2003 era, Rinker would not cover blistering if the boat sat in the water without bottom paint.

Capt Ron

Rinker and other boat manufacturers changed the gel coat type in the mid 2000 years. Polyester resins were used mostly before and they switched to an epoxy based resin. Although water will still get through any barrier coat it is thought the epoxy was better at stopping some of the water penetration and was still easily repaired. I owned a 1989 Bayliner from new and it was slipped all summer. In the fall the hull was just covered in osmosis mostly near the chimes. In the spring before launching, all the blisters disappeared and there was no evidence of osmosis. The hull dried out over the winter months. The next cruiser I bought was a Chaparral and I slipped it with a clean hull and no osmosis when pulled in the fall. Where I boated was quite weedy so I did what MT suggested and sanded the hull, washed it with acetone and bottom painted it. I was forever repainting the bottom paint every year and the paint wouldn't stick. I ended up taking it to a professional who told me that the mould wax goes through the entire gelcoat and some people are lucky and others aren't (lucky me). They powder blasted the gelcoat off entirely and put three coats of epoxy barrier coat and then put the bottom paint on. Never had another problem with the bottom paint again. Paint would last for three seasons before re-painting. When I bought my 07 320 I decided to take the wait and watch routine to see how things go. I never saw any osmosis on my hull after being slipped all season. I think like anything else manufactured, you can get lucky and others have no end to problems. I had my hull moisture tested last season and dry as a bone. I think the problems I had with bottom paint made me think twice before I would have my Rinker completed. I also got sucked into buying  that Dolphnite go fast bottom paint and what a disaster. I joined a class action suite against the company and it just declared bankruptcy and walked away from millions in claims. Since I don't have any hull issues, I will continue using a clean hull until there are any signs of osmosis because of where I boat. Salt water is a completely different area and bottom paint is necessary. Like MT said salt water is easier on the hull, however, a totally different scenario than fresh water. I recommend to anyone who is having issues with bottom paint is to have it professionally completed making sure a proper barrier coat thickness is applied first. Save yourself a lot of grief and constant repainting this way. If I decide to bottom paint, that's exactly what I intend to do.   

Michael T

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LaRea

Captain Ron said:
>  If you boat in fresh water you don't need to bottom coat your hull ...

That is, IF you don't have fouling problems.  In some fresh water areas, such as the Potomac River, you absolutely have to use anti-fouling paint.  If you don't, the hull will grow so much moss in 2 months that the boat will be unable to get on plane.

In areas like that, it's not a question of whether to paint.  The question is which paint will work best.

MarkB

Captain Ron. 
. I've had my bottom paint for 3 years. Aside from a small annual touch up, the bottom paint is immaculate. If applied correctly it will last numerous years. 

Capt Ron

markbellino said:

Captain Ron. 
. I've had my bottom paint for 3 years. Aside from a small annual touch up, the bottom paint is immaculate. If applied correctly it will last numerous years. 

I agree Mark if the job was properly completed in the first place. I personally don't have a problem with bottom paint especially with some of the new products that out now, solving many of the leeching issues. When I mentioned fresh water boats don't need bottom paint please let me expand a little. They don't need it depending on where you boat. If your fresh water are full of pollutants then bottom paint is necessary...

Michael T

I'm 100% with Mike. Even with the complete vinylester resin system you still run the risk, imo, of getting osmosis. Gel coat is not a water barrier. Wax is great but wears off during the boating season and is completely removed at haul out by the chemical wash and power spray. On my 360 I had three barrier coats applied with a final epoxy. Of course there's no way I could wax that hull bottom myself, it's a big enough job for the Admiral and I to wax the hull sides and top decks. The salesmen I consulted from three different dealers, before ordering the bottom coat, all said that a bottom coat is a plus at sales time. A number of manufacturers are sending their bigger cruisers out with bottom coat standard.My 2 cents. MT