Mystery bottom paint

tpothen · #1 (**permalink**) 03-01-2011

I bought a Cal 2-25 last summer and it is in need of some new bottom paint. I am having a hard time finding out what is currently on the boat. After doing a sanding with 80 grit sandpaper and a random orbit sander I noticed the black paint has a lot of copper in it so I am looking for something compatible as I don’t want to strip the current paint. Anyone have any idea’s what would work over this? The boat is and always has been a freshwater boat. Thanks

sailingdog · #2 (**permalink**) 03-01-2011

Can't you call the previous owner and ask them?

tpothen · #3 (**permalink**) 03-01-2011

Unfortunately the PO passed away a few days after I bought the boat. His wife told me had the boat maintained at a boat yard that is no longer in business.

Faster · #4 (**permalink**) 03-01-2011

Talk to the paint manufacturers or their reps. They may have something that is 'comapatable' with pretty much anything.

The other tack to take is to try a patch somewhere and give it a day to see if it reacts with/dissolves/ the original.

sailingdog · #5 (**permalink**) 03-01-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by tpothen

Unfortunately the PO passed away a few days after I bought the boat. His wife told me had the boat maintained at a boat yard that is no longer in business.

Does she have receipts for the work done on the boat... the receipts might say what paint was used.

mitiempo · #6 (**permalink**) 03-01-2011

I believe an ablative paint can be put over a hard bottom paint but hard bottom paint cannot be over ablative. Ablative works by slowly dissolving and also tends to avoid an increasing build-up of paint over the years.

Fstbttms · #7 (**permalink**) 03-01-2011

Quote:

Originally Posted by mitiempo

I believe an ablative paint can be put over a hard bottom paint but hard bottom paint cannot be over ablative.

Not necessarily so. Many typical copper-based paints are compatible with each other, be they modified epoxies or copolymer ablatives.

HangOnSloopy · #8 (**permalink**) 03-21-2011

I'm almost done sanding down the bottom of my Olson 30. It had VC-17 on it. It looks almost black when it is oxidized, but once you sand through the top layer it takes on a copper color...that is until reaching the white gelcoat underneath. Around here (Lake Champlain) VC-17 is very common on boat bottoms. If your boat is in freshwater I know that VC-17 can look like that.