Changing bottom paint color

[Lollygag1]

My wife (the Admiral) would like to change the color of the bottom from the current black to green. Besides sanding and cleaning is there anything else i shoudl do? or does this require soda blasting? I was hoping to do the work myself. Any thoughts or suggestions are appreciated.

 

[Comodave]

What type of bottom paint is currently on the boat? If it is an ablative paint, just pressure wash the bottom really good and if the present paint is well adhered then paint with the new ablative paint. If you have blistering, it is a whole different story. My current bottom paint is a blue ablative and I am going to go to black. By having the blue under the black it will tell me when it is time to add more black when the blue starts to show through.

 

[Lollygag1]

Black Interlux ablative paint. I thoroughly sanded and painted last spring, no blistering. Couple of spots need to be sanded but overall it looks fine.

 

[Bacchus]

Agree w/ Dave
Color change no different than putting on a fresh coat as long as you are using the same or compatible paint. Like he said the under color gives you an early warning when it's time to repaint.
I also changed from green to black so one of us must be going the wrong way??

That reminds me of a story - we were tearing up wall - wall carpet and refinishing hardwood floors when a neighbor stopped by...
Said they were in the process of having wall - wall carpet installed!
Same response... one of us is doing the wrong thing????

 

[Ski in NC]

If my girl asked me to change the color of the bottom paint, I'd say sure, you get to do the bottom job!! Just kidding, sort of.

Unless you strip it down to barrier coat or gel (which ever is under the b-paint), as the b-paint wears you will get blotches. Old color showing through new color. That looks pretty bad.

If you already need to strip it because of old paint buildup, then no issue at all changing color.

 

[Bacchus]

Unless you strip it down to barrier coat or gel (which ever is under the b-paint), as the b-paint wears you will get blotches. Old color showing through new color. That looks pretty bad.
.

If you go through all the work to strip & start over w/ all one color - when it wears through you still have blotches except the white ? gel coat is the other color showing and there is NO anti fouling properties left.

Other than at the waterline it doesn't show - I guess I don't see the difference / problem.
I've read that some yards / pros recommend a different color as the first coat to act as a tell tale before all anti-fouling is gone.

 

[Comodave]

As soon as you see the first spot starting to show through, you know to put on another coat.

 

[gaston]

How often is your wife under the boat
suggestions ??? hide your wife's meds see if that helps

 

[kenk]

As soon as you see the first spot starting to show through, you know to put on another coat.

This is exactly why a lot of people use two different colors.

 

[Nomad Willy]

I'm in the why would anybody use anything but red camp.
But I met a fisherman in Alaska that was sure black bottom paint had longer lasting AF properties.

 

[Ski in NC]

True, if you change colors you can see that last coat is wearing out. But if you paint same color over the old color, you don't get blotches. All same color. I paint mine (black ablative) when the grey-ish barrier coat shows through. Which it is already doing.

If multi colored I would have had blotches six months ago!

 

[gaston]

Has anyone mixed copper dust in bottom paint or chilli powder ? how did it go ?

 

[Wayfarer]

One thing I can recommend is that you don’t do what the previous owners of my old boat did. They painted over ablative paint with a hard shell paint. The result was big blotches of the hard stuff sloughing off. Not a good look.

 

[Lollygag1]

My wife has already agreed to paint the bottom. We tag teamed it last season, this year I will prep and she will paint. She was also the one to suggest we upgrade to a larger boat a few years ago. Keeper!

 

[Comodave]

She sure is a keeper.

 

[Lollygag1]

She does most of the cleaning too. Trade off is that she wants to drive all the time, I end up being the valet, park it and take it off the DOCK.

 

[Ftbinc]

She does most of the cleaning too. Trade off is that she wants to drive all the time, I end up being the valet, park it and take it off the DOCK.

She leaves you the fun stuff - driving, once i get outside the harbor is usually left to "Otto" the Auto pilot. I'll let my wife drive then anytime...