Bottom Paint Flaking

CCAaron · #1 (**permalink**) 05-25-2010

I am getting ready to put a new coat of VC-17 on and I have several areas that are flaking off. I bought the boat last year and was told that they had recently taken the bottom down to the fiber glass and put an epoxy on by the person that I owned before the guy I bought it from. (I ran into them at the marina) So they didnt have any reason to lie about...I dont think.

The hull is smooth but it started flaking off when it was powerwashed in the fall. Most of the spots where it has flaked are blue underneath, but I did notice a couple small spots that are brown. Does this mean that I have blistering?

I was going to lightly sand it and wipe it down with acetone before painting the VC-17 on.

JimsCAL · #2 (**permalink**) 05-26-2010

A blister will be a raised bubble. Sounds like just some poor adhesion of the bottom paint. Your suggestion to just light sand and reapply bottom paint should be fine.

deniseO30 · #3 (**permalink**) 05-26-2010

If they didn't apply bottom paint to the epoxy before it was cured it would flake off.. Did it happen to me? Yes! but it's nice to see that barrier coat under the paint! I won't know if the touch ups worked til the end of this season however.

sailingdog · #4 (**permalink**) 05-26-2010

Photos would help.

deniseO30 · #5 (**permalink**) 05-26-2010

Oh.. the brown is the epoxy getting some kind of growth on it.

speciald · #6 (**permalink**) 05-26-2010

Had the same problem when I bought my current boat. The good news - it was fixable. The bad news - it was expensive. The paint was not adhering to the barrier coat because the first paint was not applied while the barrier was still sticky. The solution - remove all the bottom paint; redo the barrier, apply new bottom paint before the barrier completly sets.

deniseO30 · #7 (**permalink**) 05-26-2010

Well yes .. but a light sanding of the B C will make it adhere too Spec.

creedence623 · #8 (**permalink**) 05-26-2010

I have the same issue, and according to the yard, it was for the reasons mentioned above with the curing of the barrier coat.

They suggested soda blasting the bottom, sanding with 80 grit paper, and repainting.

mikehoyt · #9 (**permalink**) 05-26-2010

I have a thought I would like to add.

You are putting on VC17. That is a fast and expensive paint. You also say that the existing paint is flaking off making an unsmooth surface.

If you are just going to paint over top of a bad paint job why use an expensive paint like VC17? How about an ablative that costs 1/3 as much?

The cure for your problem is getting all the old stuff off first before applying new bottom paint and possibly even a new barrier coat. Expect 4 days hard work to strip the bottom or $$$ to have it soda/sand/dry ice blasted.

If you want a fast bottom it will eventually have to be stripped.

Random thoughts - but VC17 says you want to be fast and flaking bottom paint sounds very unfast.

Mike

CCAaron · #10 (**permalink**) 05-26-2010

Thanks for the info. I will try to get some pictures tonight. I know that it already has VC-17 on it and I don’t really want to take it all off and put a new type of bottom paint on.

I guess I should also add that when I bought the boat last year I put it in without adding a new coat of VC on it. I was rushed to get it out of the yacht club that it was stored at. When we pulled it in the fall there wasn’t really any growth on it...so I guess it still worked. The coat that is on there is from 2008.