bottom paint thoughts

[MarkCK]

I have been reading various post on bottom paint and as near as i can tell there is no one right way to do things. It all depends on the particular situation.

So here is my situation. I have a boat that is kept in a slip on a freshwater lake in Missouri. The current bottom paint is ablative and has been on for about three years. The leading edges have pretty much been worn down to the bare fiberglass. The rest of the boat had a coating of slime on it when I pulled it out this past fall. I have cleaned off all of the slime and other growth on the underside of the boat. Whats left of the current bottom paint actually looks like it is in pretty good condition. No chipping cracking etc.

Where do I go from here? Some threads recommend stripping/sanding the remaining paint down to bare fiberglass, while others recommend just applying a new coat of paint over the existing.

What brand of ablative paint should I use? What works well in the midwest.

[tager]

Just use cheap ablative from West Marine. Their products are pretty good. As far as I am concerned ablative is the best way to go.

[pedcab]

I'd just proceed as instructed by every paint manufacturer (except by those who'd rather make big money in no time at the expense of costumer's money):

You can obviously paint over the old paint provided the following conditions are guaranteed:

1- Good adhesion state of the previous paint,
2- Solvent compatibility between new and old paint. (I've failed to comply with this when I just paited my boat with two coats of 2 part polyurethane over synthetic with nothing to report, I woudn't advise you do do it, though)
3- Adequate hull moisture and temperature values
4- Good surface preparation (degreasing, cleaning, sanding, cleaning, degreasing...the usual lot...)