Remove Bottom Paint?

The Rinker I bought in June has bottom paint on it. My understanding was this was owned by someone in NC originally and was traded in to another fellow to kept it in the James river about 100 miles from the coast, in VA. I do not know what kind of bottom paint is on the boat, but I am guessing that it was salt water paint when it was in NC, and if it was refreshed for the second owner it may have been "fresh water" bottom paint.
Anyway, I bought the boat without trailer because both previous owners kept the boat in the water. I made a trailer for it and now keep it on the trailer.
What I am trying to figure out is if I can remove the bottom paint and get back to the original gelcoat or if I should refresh the bottom paint and keep it on there, because it will be too difficult to remove it. The bottom paint was looking like it was already coming off when I bought the boat, and when I took the pressure washer to it more paint came off.
If I can remove, what should I use to prevent damage to the gelcoat?

Attached is a pic of the hull after pressure washing. It seems like the part that used to be under water shed the paint more easily than the above water section.



Thanks,
Chris

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

I would refresh/repaint the bottom. Bringing back the gelcoat is a LOT of work. There will be imperfections in the gel that will hold specks of paint and it will look like it has pepper on it. To get it all off you'll be wet sanding and buffing a LOT.

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

OK, so refreshing the paint would be a better option. What kind of paint? I have read about fresh water bottom paint, but have not seen it anywhere. All the bottom paint I have seen it the salt water paint that is really expensive. Perhaps the fresh water paint is the same price, but I don't know and am still learning about this.

Thanks,
Chris

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

first, why not leave it as is. It's underwater not hurting anything and out of sight when you are using the boat. what difference does it make what it lloks like under there?

If you want to paint the boat, then you have to say why: cosmetic or protection? If protection, buy the bottom paint ("anti-fouling") made for your environment. If cosmetic, paint it with any marine paint.

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

I want to do something about it because it looks awful on the trailer, and since it spends more time there than anywhere else I was hoping to make it look better. It's one of those thing that is just annoying to look at, so cosmetic would be my reasoning.



Thanks,
Chris

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

a quick google search shows black bottom paint as cheap as @ $70/gal.... pressure wash the heck out of it and paint on a new coat... done deal...... OR start sanding and prepare yourself to spend ALL of your spare time for a month or so under the boat covered in paint and gelcoat dust

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

Stamey said:

I want to do something about it because it looks awful on the trailer, and since it spends more time there than anywhere else I was hoping to make it look better. It's one of those thing that is just annoying to look at, so cosmetic would be my reasoning.

View attachment 175494

Thanks,
Chris

Click to expand...

I can see why you'd want to change that. Would it be possible to use a bottom paint that matches your graphics?

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

Well, I am looking at what colors bottom paints are available in, hoping to find white. Since it is trailer kept now, I'm starting to thin I don't need bottom paint, maybe I could just go with some kind of paint that is compatible with the leftover bottom paint and the fiberglass, if regular paint would do this.
I'm not as worried about the graphics, as I might be able to modify them slightly to make it look better, but who knows, if it annoys me enough there is a sign guy right up the street who could probably remake what I need or I could just change it up and put something different on there.

Chris

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

I've never seen a white anti fouling bottom paint, doesn't mean there isn't one. I would also be nervous about "regular" paint sticking to any old bottom paint. There are a lot of boat painting tips on here you can research. IMHO, your best bet and easiest solution is bite the bullet and put some new bottom paint on it. Most good "regular" paints with associated primers will cost as much or more than bottom paint. Add the associated costs and work of removing all the old stuff,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

On our previous boat we used Interlux Micron CSC which comes in Shark White. It actually turns a very light grey when dry but was close enough. It's not cheap though. I think I paid around $75/qt.

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

I just went through this on mine. HATED the way the bottom paint looked. I was able to scrape most of it off (without damaging the gelcoat somehow) and then sanded it clean, and haven't gotten around to polishing it up yet. Whoever did mine didn't do ANY prepwork though... so yours might not come off as easily.

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

We have had luck using three different methods. The first one that we try is power washing it with an industrial power washer I don?t know what type of pressure this thing has but it has three jets that come out at one time and can literally strip the paint right off of a house. If that doesn?t do the trick we will either soda blast or dry ice blast the bottom. Dry ice blasting is the one that gets it done every time but then you have to wet sand the bottom and buff it back out using something like Fountain of Youth products or a good 3M product.

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

Petit make a white bottom paint,"Vivid".It's a little expensive but it's white.

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

Home Cookin' said:

first, why not leave it as is. It's underwater not hurting anything and out of sight when you are using the boat. what difference does it make what it lloks like under there?

If you want to paint the boat, then you have to say why: cosmetic or protection? If protection, buy the bottom paint ("anti-fouling") made for your environment. If cosmetic, paint it with any marine paint.

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Home Cookin, what bottom paint do you have? I have not seen ANY bottom job that you could not see while the boat was in the water. I had mine done this last January. For what ever the reason the old bottom job was sky blue!! Looked horrible!! Had it redone in black and raised 2" because at the stern, the water line and bottom paint line were the same. You could not keep the marina stain off the side of the nice white. Makes the boat look very clean looking also. I also question "any" marine paint as it would surely flake off if not designed for that.
Just my $.02 worth!

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

smokeonthewater said:

a quick google search shows black bottom paint as cheap as @ $70/gal.... pressure wash the heck out of it and paint on a new coat... done deal...... OR start sanding and prepare yourself to spend ALL of your spare time for a month or so under the boat covered in paint and gelcoat dust

Click to expand...

I would suggest a good sanding to prep the bottom.

Re: Remove Bottom Paint?

If you want to strip the bottom without damaging the gelcoat I would consider "Farrow Blasting". Despite what some say I have yet to see a "Soda Blast" jod that didn't leave the gelcoat at least somewhat rough. They still need sanding with 60-80 grit paper and some filler work some of the time. Farrow is not available where I am but should be down in Va. where you are.