Notice:
The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.
I plan on two coats of ablative antifouling paint this winter. The boat has been in fresh water for four years since the last bottom job. It looked pretty good when I pulled it, a little algae and a few blisters on the keel.
Can anyone tell me if a gallon will get me two coats on a C-25 FK? Not asking for a guarantee, just advice.
I guess I can buy quarts as well if I need some more.
Also, do you shake this stuff?
Tim Keating 1985 C-25 TR/FK #4940 Midsummer Lake Don Pedro, CA
A gallon should be close, I just repainted my Capri 25, used a gallon and had enough for a third coat on the water line, rudder and leading edge of keel. When I had a C25 swing keel a gallon worked as well. My Watkins takes a little more than a gallon.
I use a paint mixer attached to my drill (took roughly 30 minutes), a friend was able to get a local hardware store shake it on their machine. Not this exact one, but one similar - https://www.harborfreight.com/all-purpose-mixer-41015.html
FWIW -- I have never gotten two coats from one gallon -- more like 2/3 gallon per coat. Ablative paint especially needs to be well shaken or stirred. Most paint stores will not shake boat paint unless they sold it to you or know you. Stirring is best done with a mixing attachment to a drill. In salt water I originally did a strike coat and two top coats. Now one top coat every two years does the trick.
Peter Bigelow C-25 TR/FK #2092 Limerick Rowayton, Ct Port Captain: Rowayton/Norwalk/Darien CT
Some folks try to thin the paint to stretch it, however, there are two downsides to this: (1) the manufacturer claims that you will make the paint less effective and (2) the specific thinner for oil-based ablative bottom paint ain't cheap either. In my estimation you can paint your bottom once very solidly with one coat and use the rest to add a "dry coating" where you really wring out the roller with the rest. You'll probably need at least another quart to adequately apply two coats.
I plan on one gallon per coat. Plus one quart of a contrasting color like red or black. I start with the quart and use it on the waterline and bow. Then I use blue for the whole bottom. Any extra in a gallon goes on the waterline, bow, leading and trailing edges of the keel, and the rudder. When the contrasting color starts to show I start thinking about a haulout. I never thin ablatives since the name of the game is build up thickness. I use a roller with a relatively short nap to minimize the stipple from the roller, but it quickly ablates away to a smooth surface anyway.
I have been using Interlux Micron Extra Copolymer paint about every ~4 years and I can cover 1 coat with a gallon with some left over - Perhaps 1/4 - 1/3 of a gallon. I generally use a different color each time. For copolymers/ablatives that works well as you can see just how well 1 or 2 coats are holding up when you see signs of the old coat becoming visible.
I'm buying my bottom paint next week and just researched this. It depends on the type of bottom paint too, if you look at the specs and coverage page online, you'll see they cover different amounts.
Erik Cornelison 6th Generation Professional Sailor, First Gen Submarine Sailor. 1986 Standard Rig SW. #5234
Ablative on Ablative ranges from basically just washing the bottom and reapply to just doing a light sanding. Best to follow each mfrs specific recommendations listed on the gallon of paint. Interlux also has a separate chart or at least use to have a separate chart, sort of a matrix, that listed existing bottom paint and new paint to be applied and the appropriate prep required. So, either check out the labels at your local boat store or mfrs info on the web. In general, Ablative on Ablative or Copolymer on Copolymer are soft paints and require the easiest/least prep compared to the hard paints.
Of course, all mfrs are going to recommend, regardless of the bottom paint, to remove all slime, barnacles, etc - That's a given.
My website has details of when I had blisters removed, 7 coats of Interlux Interprotect applied followed by 2 coats of Copolymer paint. My boat had significant b;isters that went into the laminate. I made the decision, even though expensive, to complete the repair. This was some time ago....work was completed early Spring 2012.
I had to review my photos and writeup to help recall if all the anti-fouling paint was removed before they applied the Interprotect (barrier paint). For the most part, I believe they did remove all the anti-fouling paint. First of all, my boat had so many blisters, that just to uncover most of them, they removed significant portions of the anti-fouling paint to start with and then they had quite a bit of contouring to do since none of the blisters were simply epoxy filled - They had to relaminate 1-2 foot sections at a time with cloth and resin and so there was quite a bit of contour sanding, etc performed. After the last coat of Interprotect, they just applied the anti-fouling - 2 coats.
This Spring, it will now be 6 years since that work was performed. Since I keep the boat in the water year-round (except the winter when I had the blister job squared away), I have an annual pressure wash to remove the Potomac River water slime. I believe I had the local yard apply a coat or two of Copolymer anit-fouling paint (Micron Extra) a couple of years ago. No issues with the original anti-fouling and the new anti-fouling - boat was pressure washed this past fall and it was fine. I had a few , minor blisters but pushing on them, they were just paint blisters with water squishing out.
Anyway, the copolymer paint over barrier paint (ie Interlux Interprotect) was easy with no real prep involved.
Oh ! One thing I recall which is sort of interesting. After the blister repair/paint applications and travel arm lowering the boat in the water, I visited the boat that day in prep for sailing back to my marina. A check of the fishfinder - I was getting error msgs, then readings all over the place and then error msgs again. That wasn't good but I gave it some thought and I was thinking that there were quite a few air bubbles that I noticed clinging onto the sides of the hull. So, I was pretty sure the fishfinder was okay. The next day getting ready to sail back, the fishfinder , by then, was back to normal readings - No issues. It was just the clinging bubbles upon the boat being put back in the water !!
I use a black base coat followed with two blue top coats. With that technique I get two coats of blue out of one gallon. I even leaves me with a little extra for the mooring ball.
I gave mine a base coat of blue then one gallon of brown gave me two good coats with a little left to touch up the next year. Another gallon has been touching it up for the last 4 years. I didn't touch up this year because I will strip and redo the whole thing this coming summer. Starting to see a lot of blue now.
Wesley Allen "Breaking Wind" 1982 C-25 SR/TR/SK #2773 Hemlock, MI
Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ. The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.