Why bottom paint?

I see many threads here about re-doing bottom paint. I don't think I've ever seen a bottom paint job that I thought looked good. What is the purpose?

Re: Why bottom paint?

To prevent marine growth (and I believe hull blistering?) on a boat that is slipped.

Re: Why bottom paint?

ezmobee said:

To prevent marine growth (and I believe hull blistering?) on a boat that is slipped.

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Does it also prevent water line stains? I am thinking of docking my white boat, and it will be in lake erie. Worried about waterline stain from docking it.

Re: Why bottom paint?

My last boat was painted when I got it. I don't keep the boat in the water more than 2-3 weeks at a time so I really didn't need the paint. Thought about removing it and decided it was less hassle to just leave it on. Sanded it down and put a coat of Intelux Bottomkote on it. BottomKote is a "hard" paint so when it started to look worn 'd just wet the bottom and use a green scotch pad to expose clean paint. Took about 20 minutes to make the bottom look like new again. Had to do it twice a year. Paint lasted 4 years before I had to reapply.

My current boat never had paint on it. I spend more time cleaning the bottom of this boat than I did maintaining the bottom paint on the other. I?ve come very close to painting the bottom of this boat more than once since I bought it. Besides, an offshore boat doesn?t look right w/o bottom paint.