Time for a Barrier Coat?

[Windseeker]

My hull is coming up on 10 years. I was told by a marine yard guy that the hull should be sand blasted and barrier coated every 7 years with 5 - 7 coats of epoxy paint. Is everyone doing, done, going to do this? I do not want to sand off anything that was put on better by the factory than I can put pack on myself??? I guess I do not understand why I have to re-barrier coat the hull when I kept it covered with ablative the entire time. Now would be the time to do it with the boat on the hard. Do you have any insight into this?

[wolfe10]

Two questions before we can give you a considered answer:

How many osmotic blisters do you have and what size are they.

What is the moisture content of the hull/rudder of whatever you are evaluating. Any good yard and most marine surveyors have moisture meters.

I would not consider a "preventive" remove gel coat and apply barrier coat.

Brett

[jonnjones]

I've not heard of such a requirement. If your gelcoat is good, seems to me that ablative is all you need.

[saileagleswings]

Upon hauling our boat in 2011, we found that the hard bottom paint that had been applied four years ealier was cracking. So the paint needed to be sanded off before applying new paint. With the bottom sanded and the major amount of the cost being the labor for sanding, I decided to have an epoxy barrier coat (10 mils 2000c) added before painting with micron csc, one coat red and two coats blue.

There are two kinds of boats: those with blisters and those that will have blisters. I added the barrier coat to increase the chances of remaining in the first category. Note, our boat remains in the water year round.

[nybor]

Hi All. Yet another bottom paint question.

My boat is a 2016 (however, I am in the process of altering the manufacture date so it will read 2026). Anyway, when I got it, it had ablative paint and I did a re-paint three times over the years - no problem, since i did sail it frequently on the East Coast (FL).

However, now that it is in Venice, I don't sail it as much and the critters and algae grow like crazy. The other boats at the Marina have hard paint bottoms so when a "reputable" bottom cleaner told me that he was familiar with ablative paints.....needless to say he made quite a mess.

So, I THINK I want to go to a hard bottom that someone can clean it regularly with damaging the coating. My questions are:

Any idea of the cost range? Obviously the ablative p must be removed. Is this a huge deal? There are ZERO blisters by the way.
Also, i hear that Pettit is a good product. If so, any recommendations as to which type etc.?

Thanks in advance.

Dave (Nybor 411)

[Nobletoy]

I just had my ablative paint blasted off, 2 coats of barrier coat put on and 2 coats of Sea Hawk VMG on. I boat on Lake Superior and am happy so far.

[hperros]

I had good luck with Petit Trinidad. It's a lot more expensive than ablative paintings, but it stays on for several years.
Harry
Hull #331

[yodagwb]

If your paint is in good condition and working, WHY? I would not do a peel or blast unless necessary. That being said it became necessary in 2015 to remove to many layers of paint from our 2003 boat, chipping, my fault. Before we moved to Florida we had the boat peeled and then we applied 5 coats of barriers and 4 coats of Coppercoat (a copper loaded epoxy based bottom paint). Catalina uses a vinylester, not polyester, coat below the water line to prevent blistering. Unless you are beating on the vinylester gelcoat the really is no reason to worry about a barrier coat. If you are sanding down to the vinylester and possibly damaging it then a barrier makes sense.