Bottom Paint Prep

[brielly]

I'm about 90% done removing years of old ablative paint from my wellcraft sportsman (fun day) I'm down to blue stained gelcoat with some old paint residue. At this point I'm not sure whats left to do before putting on some new multi season ablative. The hull which is an 85 has no blisters and I really don't have the time or money for a barrier coat. Do I need to get every last bit of paint off? Or should I lightly sand it and begin painting?

 

[Art Bernard]

Re: Bottom Paint Prep

The "right" way is to put a barrier coat on, but if you cant do that I'd make sure you sand and feather all old paint and make sure you have cleaned the bottom well before applying the new paint. Use alcohol to clean it. As with all painting success is determined by the quality of the prep work. Good luck

Art

 

[brielly]

Re: Bottom Paint Prep

I figure its never had a barrier coat the entire 26 years its been in existence so why start now. My orbital sander will get it down to where I have scuffed up gel coat which I'm hoping once its cleaned will give a good surface for the paint to adhere to. I'm going to go with interlux ACT.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Bottom Paint Prep

Did the bottom paint you removed have any spots where it fell off? Most of the time if the hull is not primed, the bottom paint will fall off in chunks. If you had that situation, I would recommend some kind of AF paint primer. Pettit makes a "Sandless Primer" which is very good.