[alberg30] Re: bottom paint

Steve Weingart shw at gate.net
Mon Dec 7 07:15:39 PST 1998


From: Steve Weingart <shw at gate.net>

Gordon,


>    When my boat came out of the water and was pressure washed it ended
>up looking very mottled; spots of the old paint came off leaving the
>surface fairly rough what with high spots & low. The yard suggested
>sandblasting off all the old paint to give a smooth surface before
>repainting. They get $15/ft for that.
>    Any ideas? I am not worried about smoothness per se as I do not
>race, but I wonder if there is any 1) danger to the underlying gelcoat
>from sandblasting and 2) do I really gain anything from a
>good-for-the-boat point of view to getting off all the old paint?
>    There are places where the old paint has blisters about quarter-size
>or so. Last time I painted (in 1995) I popped lots of such blisters,
>which are in the paint, not the gelcoat. I can remove them and the
>gelcoat is fine but it leaves a shallow crater in the surface if I do
>not take off all the old paint. Alternatively I could sand these spots
>fairly smooth. Any recommendations?
>

I'm not sure about the surface prep (Wyvern has never had any paint or
other blisters at all), I'll leave that to others who know better... but I
can tell you that once you get the surface ready to paint, you should use
ACP-50.

We have been using ACP-50 on Wyvern since we got her 4 years ago, it is the
absolutley best bottom paint that I have ever used (and down here in S. FL,
we give bottom paints a real testing).  Two coats and I can expect ZERO
growth for over two years.  Since it is an ablative paint, it wears off as
it's used, so there is no build-up/sand-off as with hard paints.  Also, it
does not lose effectiveness when it's dried out, so if you haul for winter,
you can paint every other year.  We put on the first coats in black, and
subsequent coats in red.  Now all that I have to do is look at the bottom,
if there are black patches showing through the red, it's time to paint, no
guessing, always sure.

If there was something that would perform as well on props Wyvern's bottom
would be maintainence free (O.K., I'd still have to change the zinc :-)

Well it finally happened, a very nice fellow flew down to FL and looked at
Wyvern this weekend.   Pending the outcome of the survey (no surprises
expected),  Wyvern will be moving back to the Chesapeake next spring, and
Pat & I will be boatless (until work and life get a little more under
control).  I am pretty sure that Wyvern's new owner will be joining the
association and expect that you may have a new face for the A30 social in
sailing events.

Cheers to all, Happy holidays from Pat and I,

Steve

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