As the subject says - I am looking for companies or yards that do barrier coats in Annapolis area. While I am sure anyone with a sander can do it in principle, I am interested in your personal experience - who did it, and who did it well?
Main Sail6)
I would advise your first coat of paint being a high quality copolymer ablative, of the same brand paint as the barrier coat used, Micron Extra or Micron 66 are great choices if using Interprotect 2000E, as many yards do. This first coat of paint can also be of a differing color than your final coat so you know when you need to re-paint. If this is all done properly you will most likely never see chunks of bottom paint flaking off your hull again..
I'm curious why you advise using an ablative first???
I am getting ready to apply the Interprotect 2000E. I just ordered a gallon of the Interlux bottomkote epoxy in black for my first coat - of course, it is a hard paint. My plan was to next apply two more coats of the Micron Extra (ablative).
Alternating the colors helps a lot with determining where you've painted, but it is also very useful for helping you coat the areas around the boat stands. For instance:
The first layer is gray, since the gelcoat is white, and you can paint right up to the boat stand pads. Then you paint a layer of white, and leave about a two-inch margin of gray paint around the pads... then paint a layer a gray and leave a four-inch margin around the pads or about two-inches of white and two inches of gray showing...and then finish with a layer of white-with a six-inch margin around the pads-with two inches of gray, two inches of white and two inches of gray.
Then when you move the boat stands, you can fill in the pads and layer the paint accordingly... adding gray to cover the white square left by the pad.. then white to cover the gray square, and so on.
Also, by alternating colors, you can see if someone has sanded through the barrier coat when you're prepping the boat for re-painting. If there's an area that is gray or grayish, they've sanded through at least the outermost layer of barrier coat. If you had all white, you wouldn't be able to tell if they had sanded down through the barrier coat as easily-if you had all gray, you could tell they sanded through the barrier coat...but not if they've sanded into it...
I hope this helps clear things up a bit.
There's lots of misguided preferences and lots of old wives tales on the net..I had read a couple other posts where this was done.
Sadly after you finish all your HARD work, and apply a hard epoxy paint, you will eventually experience the same exact thing. Epoxy paint is NOT epoxy like West Systems or Interprotect 2000 are. It is a paint with a particular epoxy ingredient that is it. Many paints are epoxy based like Easy Poxy but it does not make them anything like epoxy resins. As such these epoxy paints are not water proof. The barrier coat is significantly more waterproof than an epoxy paint and when water gets between the two it will eventually begin to lift it. In my 35+ years of boating I have never not seen a hard paint eventually begin to peel..1. Previous paint (5 or 6 layers) was completely flaking off in areas due to poor adhesion. Don't want that to ever happen again (guess that goes without saying).
Many thousands of boats who use ablatives also clean their bottoms for racing. We wash Cordelia, the Ericson I race on, twice per year only to get a slight slime off it. If you apply the suggested coats in the suggested manner you will not likely be washing through it, we never have.2. I had planned to use only hard paint. I want to be able to clean the bottom and I'm concerned about cleaning through the ablative.
Yes but only until it peels or becomes ineffective. Most hard paints are ineffective after a haul out, even Interlux Ultra (this is a hard paint) can not be hauled and re-launched. No matter how much you want them to work they are toast. If the paint becomes ineffective due to time in water or a haul out you have to ask yourself, "what is the point of having a hard paint under an ablative". It will be as effective as the barrier coat after the first season meaning it will repel next to nothing. It is a total waste of time & your hard earned money if you are thinking it will offer any protection if your ablative layers wash away. If you have sailed it more than a season or you have dry stored it for any period of time Bottomkote is dead.A hard first coat will ensure there is always paint on the bottom.
This is the only benefit, with a big caveat. In order to get back to the layer of hard paint you'll need to fully sand off the ablative you are moving away from. This is much easier said than done and might as well be another full strip. Unfortunately, I have yet to meet anyone who has actually done a bottom job, switched to an ablative, and wanted to go back to a hard paint unless they were a very competitive racer and could not burnish the ablative to their liking. Perhaps they are out there but I have yet to meet one.If I end up not liking ablative, I can always revert back to hard since it's ok to apply ablative over hard but not the other way around.
Yesand but its also half the paint. I would hope you ordered Bottomkote Classic as Bottomkote is a soft sloughing paint. Both Bottomkote Classic (hard) and Bottomkote (sloughing) are SINGLE season paints. This means they are rendered useless after haul and re-launch. USELESS !!! Wear away your ablative paint after a stint of winter storage and your Bottomkote is as useless as the barrier coat or gel coat is so why have it at all? The gray or white barrier coat also makes a great but equally as useless tracer coat...3. Bottomkote epoxy is half the price of Micron Extra.
Again they are NOT the same thing!! The only thing they share is the word epoxy. Go buy some appliance epoxy spray paint at you local hardware store and compare it to West Systems resin or Interprotect 2000E. Appliance paint has about as much in common with epoxy resins as does Bottomkote Classic..4. I like the idea of epoxy paint on top of epoxy barrier coat.
I am trying to help you SAVE money in the long haul. Using this method will only serve to have you back here in a few years saying "I should have listened to you guys"..It already shipped and returning it will be very hard. So I'll go ahead as planned. I did check with my Interlux rep. on going this route and to get a recoat time (micron over bottomkote). He didn't seem to have a problem.
Sorry was not trying to debate but rather save you some future headache. if you perceived my advice as a debate I'm sorry for that..Maine Sail
Like I said, I'm not here to debate - I'm here to learn and share.
I'm a little surprised at Chef's post above since I was unaware that any ablative was made in black - I know Micron Extra isn't.
Yes Micron Extra, CSC and ACT are all made in Black. The West Marine product number for Micron Extra in black gallons is 1146786.
West Marine PCA Gold also comes in black as does Pettit Ultima SR..