VC 17 And Moving A Boat from G.L. to Ches. B

[Blowfish]

I have purchased a Pearson 365 in the Great Lakes and will be moving it down to Chesapeake Bay over about 2 months. It has an aging coat of VC 17 bottom paint on it. I have a few questions:

1. Any concerns about growth in 2 months? The bottom paint is ok, but not great. We'll be sticking to the intercoastal.

2. Can anyone recommend a really cheap boatyard where I can haul out and do the bottom myself? I may also be interested in storing it on the hard over the summer, so cheap summer storage would be a plus too! We will be moving the boat to the Caribbean in the fall and we don't really care about the location of storage.

3. If we don't haul it out, how does VC17 perform in the Chesapeake (near Annapolis)?

4. Has anyone used Peelaway to remove VC17, and if so, how did it perform?

Thanks!

[PalmettoSailor]

If you are thinking of doing the haul out after you get to the Chesapeke, Deltaville, VA is among the top choices for a choice of decent boat yards at much lower prices than Annapolis and other areas. Deltaville is about mid bay and prices seem to get higher, both up and down the Bay from Deltaville. For a do it yourselfer, I'd recommend Schroeder Yacht Systems on Broad Creek, but there are 4 or more others in the area that might work for you.

Can't offer much advice beyond that but Good Luck on your trip.

[t22cayuga]

I just removed 20 years worth of VC17 from a 28 foot boat. I used 80 grit sandpaper with a dustless DA sanding setup. This took most of it off. The rest came off easily with a few passes of paper towels soaked with xylene. VC17 is very thin and comes off much more easily than most other bottom paints.