Choosing Bottom Paint

[Don Casey]

In your article "New Shine For an Old Hull" you mention linear polyurethane paint, but when I search the catalogs for this particular product, they offer me something different. Even though I plan on using my boat on a freshwater lake, it seems I'd still have to put a finish coat on the bottom. What are your recommendations?

Ron Klosterman

Don Casey responds:

Ron,

Linear polyurethane—Awlgrip, Interthane Plus, Sterling, and others—is intended for the parts of the boat above the waterline. I'm not sure you need anything below the waterline in a lake, but since I don't have much freshwater experience. Go to a marina next Saturday and ask several boatowners what they do about bottom paint and why.

Don