How often do you sand down the old bottom paint?

[downeast450]

I had to let one of my sail boats sit out last season. The bottom paint is "flaky" in places. I am half way done going over the entire bottom with a DA sander. It is in good condition now. I will paint it Thursday. I was wondering how many boats get their bottoms faired annually.

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[tommays]

Ablative paint

[downeast450]

I use ablative paint. That is probably why two seasons of wet and freezing temps caused it to start to flake. Ablative paint still builds up and gets coarse. A freshly sanded hull with a fresh coat of ablative paint will be considerably smoother where the action is.

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[pdqaltair]

The key is doing just a bit of sanding EVERY time, just enough to make certain you have a good bond. Never paint over any dirt (the PO probably did). Do a little smoothing as needed, but it shouldn't get course if you use a smooth roller and a good self-polishing paint. My last boat had over 20 years since the last stripping, and she went 13 knots (120% of wind speed) under working sail the day I sold her; with fresh paint, the bottom was that smooth.

And please use a sander with a vacuum, for your lungs if nothing else.

[downeast450]

That is my practice, too. Touch up rough spots every year. I do use a da with a vacuum attachment. I don't hook up the vacuum when I sand the hull. I got into the habit, because of the comfort and safety, of using a full face respirator for all the "dirty" jobs on the boats. Dust filters for this one.

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[pdqaltair]

that may not want sanding dust on their boat, and to keep it off the ground (it won't all land on the tarp).

[lancelot9898]

With ablative paint I never sand....just use a good stiff brush and scrub. It does a much better job than even the power wash.

[mbsl98]

With ablative paint, is it really true that you just give it a scrub before spring launch, no painting, until the paint gets too thin to protect? If you wait until the old wears down, then I would expect it to not build up to a point of needing to be stripped. That is my hope at least, as I just had the bottom stripped of 25 years worth of old stuff, and launched last month with three coats of Micro Extra. (black first, then 2 of dark blue). I really don't want to ever sand the bottom again, so looking for guidance on the right way to proceed.

[tommays]

Well

They have code like season to season which is REALLY ONE season and they have mulit-season Ablative paint

Gotta know whats on there

I have had good luck with Micron Extra On my J24 and it had plenty of paint left after one season SO i used it on the Cal 29

I have friends that use paints like Vivid whicg also works well BUT i find it a bit to soft and it really shows even during a wipe down

[crucialvacuum]

I've always used an ablative paint each year in the spring. Problem is: you can't scrub it down over the course of the season. The barnacles don't seem to care for it but the grass/slime think it's a wonderful place to bond. I'm going to try a hard paint next year and see how it does.