Stripping and repainting 36' Hatt bottom

[ADaily3224]

Well, the boat is done and so am I. Starting at 7:30 AM, finishing 12 hours later, what a big job.
A good friend of mine came down at around 11:00 to give me a hand. The finished product was excellent. The Barrier coating did an excellent job of soaking into the dry clean gel coat. I applied 4 coats, but was very careful to roll it on generously. The bottom looked like new by the time I applied the bottom paint. By the way it was a very hard decision but in the end I went with the new Pettit Vivid. I did some research using some old issues of PBR. The Pettit was awfully expensive, List price was $85 a quart, West marine $74,99, Port Supply $64,95 ouch. Anyway it was very sticky and hard to apply, but looks different from any other bottom paint I have ever used. It's a hard bottom paint, similar to VC17 but made more for power boats. It will not build up, and when you can see the barrier coat starting to show through it's time for another coat. Here are three more pictures. The first is barrier coat, then the completed job, and a close up of the bottom.

Thanks for all the good advise, I'm happy this project is complete.
Tony D

 

[akintosyali]

I just stripped and re-did the bottom of my 41'.

Power washing will not work - it may actually chip off the gel coat and create more holes to fill. Home depot strippers were useless for me.

After a few tries, I used a belt sander - it was the best. Start with a 50 grit, and finish with 80 grit. DO NOT let the sander stay in one spot - keep it moving - or you'll take off too much. Wear a respirator - not a dust mask!

I put 6 coats of pettit protect after this process. The barrier coat 1 mm thick will not display any of the sanding marks, and actually help the barrier coat stick better...

 

[Traveler 45C]

That bottom looks sweet!

I'll be doing this same job soon and your postings were very helpful to me. I hope mine comes out as well.

 

[guyerst]

I had the bottom blasted in the fall, left it out to dry all winter, and am getting ready to fair (lots of blisters!!), barrier, and bottom paint. I was absolutely convinced on VC-17 (boat's on Lake MI), but after spending some time with the Petit guy at a boat show I'm second guessing.

The sell he gave me on Vivid has me thinking this might be a better option than the VC-17. I had always thought the Vivid would have to be sanded down when it came time to repaint, before applying more. Now I'm hearing that it actually ablates. Slight scuff job and reapply when needed. I am liking the sound of that.

I came across this thread while searching for info. Are youstill happy with the Vivid? Are you getting a couple seasons out of it? And... did it wear away like the sales man says?

Steve

 

[ADaily3224]

Update, two years later. I could post another photo but suffice to say the bottom looks exactly as it did when I finished the bottom job two years ago. Next door to me where I store the boat is a 37 Sea Ray that went through the same process, soda blast, barrier coat, bottom paint. There is no comparison between the two bottoms. Mine looks like new and his needs paint, badly. My neighbor used Intelux. I don't wish to do a product endorsement but it's such a dramatic difference between the Pettit bottom and the Interlux bottom, and mine is two years old verses one.

Tony D

 

[Werner Schoenknecht]

We have our boat in lake Huron and faced the same issues you are.We setteled on a system called Farrow. a "green" process. Go to wwwfarrowsystem.com and take look.
Werner- Mirage 1986 My.

 

[Maynard Rupp]

The west coast guys have been using green products for years. Ask them..they don't work. VC 17 is not ablative but is so thin you can remove it with one hard wipe of sandpaper. Ablative paints only wear off in certain areas like the waterline. We used 7 coats of Interprotect 2000 and 2 coats of VC-17. No growth at all and a 2 hour annual recoat. I must admidt that it won't stop the barnacles in salt water. They don't really seem to attach, because the preassure washer blows the bottom clean. For salt water we are using Petit Trinidad Pro. This stuff is the opposite of green, but man does it work. It is not ablative but seems to be easy to sand.