Finally bit the bullet!

[Baja340SF]

Actually, for the second time!

I painted the bottom of my boat! I leave my boat in the salt water for a good portion of the summer (only trailer when going to the lake) and it is way to much of a hassel to be cleaning it when it starts to get dirty.
The reason its for the second time is because last year I tried an antifouling paint from Dolphinite that failed miseralby. The stuff was called Go Fast Bottom Paint. It came in a clear so i figured that id give it a try to keep the bottom looking original. Well, that stuff was the worst......it looked as if i never painted it when i took it out of the water b4 the Winni Poker run. Took me hours to get it clean! (but thats another story...LOL)
Anyway.........Had the boat hauled last thursday afternoon (much easier to prep and paint on stands than the trailer) and between Friday, Sat, and Sunday got it finished. Thursday I taped off the water line, and cleaned the tea stain off. Friday.....Sanded (nothing like putting 80 grit to perfectly fine gelcoat), cleaned, washed down with Laquer thinner and gave it the first coat, Sat.... Gave 2nd coat of paint and on Sunday I gave it one final coat around the waterline and removed the tape. I painted it black, figured it would show the dirt even less. I didnt paint the sides of the boat, so i will have to keep those few inches clean where the water comes up on the sides.
I know its not the most popular idea to paint the bottom of your Baja but for the type and often of boating I do I like to leave it a the dock. The dock is only about a mile from my house and if i had to put it in the water everytime i wanted to use it I probablly wouldnt go as much. The dock pricing is cheap so thats the insentive to keep it there too.
Im interested in seeing how much speed i will scrub off with the paint. But I dont spend that much time at WOT for it to really matter much. Just curious.

Luckily the weather here was not that great this past weekend.........barely in the 60's and windy , so i didnt miss out on much boating anyway!

[Baja Daze]

Gotta do what ya gotta do...

No, it's no too popular with performance boats, but if you wish to leave her wet for any length of time, it's a must...especially in warm saltwater.

It's probably best that you did it. After all, what fun is boating if you have to work all the time. ;)

[25OutLaw]

Phil,
I feel your pain. As we discussed before, I painted mine twice last year also (1st time was with clear "Grow-Fast" also). It wasn't easy watching them sand the hull, but what's done is done and I'm using it much more now and getting more enjoyment out of it. That's what its all about anyway...

[Baja340SF]

It's probably best that you did it. After all, what fun is boating if you have to work all the time.

So true! Working the daily grind is bad enough but having to pull the boat to clean it regularly (last year) was a pain in the a$$. I dont need that type of work! lol

I called the hauler........going back in on Wed! It will stay in till the Poker run at winni!

[ckmansell]

Phil what type of facilities do you keep your boat in the water. On a pier, can, dock slip, etc...??

[Baja340SF]

Ive got a slip at a local yacht club. Its a small YC with about 40 slips and a few moorings. The price is right and its on a river which is around a mile from the open Atlantic. It takes very little time for me (about 10 min) to get out of the river (there are some sections you can run......others no wake).
And not to mention its only about a mile away from my house too!

[ckmansell]

The reason I was asking, and I do not know what prices are up there, is why don't you buy a lift. See mine here. (http://www.teambajamarine.com/Coppermine/displayimage.php?album=16&pos=185) Around here you could buy a used lift for your boat for about $2500 to $3000. They would charge me about $1800 to $2200 to bottom paint my boat. For the extra $600 bucks, this is way to go around these parts. Just basically wondering how this would compare to where you are.

[Baja340SF]

I would have loved to gone with the lift. It’s just not possible where I’m at. Our docks are not attached to pilings, they are attached to moorings....so they just float around the river (so to speak). The reason that there is no pilings is that we have a 9-foot tide here. We have pilings along side our sea wall but they just keep the first set of floats (docks) along the wall and everything else is set with the moorings.
There are some of those floating lifts, where you add air to a giant pontoon bladder and it lifts the boat out of the water but that again would be impossible as the YC wouldn’t allow them.
As far as costs for painting. It really wasn’t that bad. I did the work myself so I saved on labor. The paint cost about $110/ gallon and I only used 1 gallon........2 coats with a 3rd along the water line (manufactures recommendation). The hauling was $125 each way and add an additional $50 for incidentals.......paint rollers, pans, brushes, masks, sandpaper ECT. So I’m into this paint job for about $410. Not that bad in my eyes. To have sombody locally do it would have run me aprox the same as yours ........18-2200.
Now the difference in dock pricing also makes me want to stay where I am too. I pay $10.00/foot to dock my boat for the season.........it includes, my slip, electric, and water as well as winter storage (outside). And to belong to the YC you need to pay a yearly dues of $100 and do 40 work hours a year. I’m exempt from the $100 and the 40 work hours because I’m the Treasure of the YC.
So for the year..........I pay $340.00 for everything listed above! NOT A BAD DEAL HUH?

[ckmansell]

Great deal! $340 only gets me about 2 months.:( We are taking our boat to Chicago in August. They want about $50 a day just for a can. So I guess it could be worse.

If your YC doesn't allow them then there is not much you can do. But just for info, there are almost no docks at LOTO attached to pilings. They all float. Just use cables to attach to the sea wall with a walkway.

The lifts work fine. We dont use bladders, we use either galvanized metal tanks or some are made of plastic or fiberglass.

[Baja340SF]

Now that the boat has been pulled out of the water I figured id give a post season report. The painting of the boat definately made life easier at the end of the season seeing how i keep my boat in the water thru the season.
The paint worked excellent. I used an hard ablative paint. An ablative paint is one that actually wears off over time with the friction of the water flowing over the bottom. And while its wearing off it removes any growth that could appear. It also has a high concentration of copper in it to reduce the growth in the first place. Even though the paint wears off as your running there was still plenty left when got it out of the water. (i applied 2 coats at the begining of the season) The bottom paint was virtually clean when i took it out. There was a small amount of brownish slime that came right off with some water and the deckbrush. (you cannot power wash an ablative painted bottom)
I didnt go with any of the major brands of paint (interlux, petit) I went with a small company thats been making bottom paint privately for many years. The company is out of FL and with the results ive seen id recomend this product to anyone that is thinking of bottom painting.
As far as speed reduction. I didnt notice any!! Actually, I gained 2 mph this season. (I had my props done by Darin at Houston Propeller at the begining of the season which im sure helped :winkgreen )