Don Casey: Paint Waterline Stripe with Bottom Paint

[asdf38]

I remember reading this suggestion and liking it in one of Don Casey's books. My waterline is a bit too low (perhaps 1/4 to 1" above the real waterline. Is this common for Contessa's?) and with the wave action I get at my mooring there is lots of growth and years of cleaning the growth off means the waterline paint job looks terrible and needs some attention.

This seems like a reasonable way to reduce my future maintenance. Obviously it wouldn't look quite as nice as shiny top-side paint but it would stop the growth and dealing with bottom paint is so much easier.

Currently I have Interlux topside paint for the waterline and ablative bottom paint. I assume if I did this I would put a hard anti-fouling paint on for the stripe? Any issue with this that I'm not thinking of? Would there be extra prep going from top-side to anti-fouling? Or other suggestions?

[padean]

Are you talking about painting a strip a couple of inches above the current top of your bottom coat?

I have heard of painting the bottom coat a little higher to reflect wave action etc and keep growth off the gelcoat of the sides, but painting a stripe a few inches above the current waterline will still leave those few inches of exposed gelcoat.

I guess another possibility, which I have seen on several occasions, and used once on a boat I race on, is to stop the bottom coat at the current location, paint white bottom coat pain (such as Vivid) just above this for another inch or two. Then you could paint a stripe above this. Maybe that would help with what you are asking about.

[SecondWindNC]

The boatyard here has started using bottom paint for the boot stripe, and it seems to have worked pretty well on the boats I've seen. Not sure whether they're using ablative or something harder.

[Barquito]

In a moment of new boat owner confusion, the previous owner of a boat I owned painted bottom paint up to the BOOT Stripe. Yup, gritty blue paint all the way to the rubrail.

My Bristol 27 squats down in the back too. Would probably be worth trying to get it to sit on it's lines. Still, I like that idea.

[mikel1]

Did I just read that first part right?

[asdf38]

Originally Posted by padean

Are you talking about painting a strip a couple of inches above the current top of your bottom coat?

No, my bottom paint touches the waterline stripe, no gap in between. And as I said, the waterline stripe is at the waterline (or no more than 1" above it) and is topside paint so it's wet all the time and fouls up quick. I thought a quick scrub would remove the growth. I was wrong. That stuff is on there pretty solid. I guess it has to hang on to survive.

Originally Posted by SecondWindNC

The boatyard here has started using bottom paint for the boot stripe, and it seems to have worked pretty well on the boats I've seen. Not sure whether they're using ablative or something harder.

Wait is Boot stripe the same as waterline stripe? I may be confused on that point. But this sounds like exactly what I meant.

[SHNOOL]

Sorry ASDF, but I think you are confusing terms... See here http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gear-m...necessary.html

Mine is a different animal (small boat in comparison), but I have anti-foul, then gelcoat, then bootstripe then gelcoat... is this unique?
see below:


Oh this is the day I brought her home, she's much cleaner, has a new bottom, and the trailer looks better now.

[SloopJonB]

Originally Posted by Barquito

In a moment of new boat owner confusion, the previous owner of a boat I owned painted bottom paint up to the BOOT Stripe. Yup, gritty blue paint all the way to the rubrail.

My Bristol 27 squats down in the back too. Would probably be worth trying to get it to sit on it's lines. Still, I like that idea.

I believe you meant COVE stripe - the boot stripe is the coloured line above the bottom paint at the waterline.

My preference is to have the boot stripe several inches above the actual, static waterline and to bring the bottom paint up to the underside of it. Colour choice for the bottom paint becomes a bit more significant than if it's kept below the real waterline since it shows more but with careful choice it can look very good.

The actual extra height is dependent on the size of boat of course. I brought it up 2" on my 26' Quarter Tonner but I've seen it approaching 6" on a 42' boat. It also seems to look better if one has a wide or elaborate boot stripe - several stripes, stripes varying thick to thin etc.

It also serves to visually lower very high topsides.

If you have no other choice - gel coat boot top right at the waterline for example, then overpainting it with bottom paint would work but it would look a LOT better to repaint the boot top higher with gloss paint and then do the bottom as I have described. That line is second only to the sheerline in importance to a boats looks.

[TQA]

I am trying one more time with conventional boot stripe paint but if I get the same degree of algae growth on the boot stripe I will try Petit Vivid next year.

From ELEPHANTS CHILD

And yes the boot stripe is/was bright red. 8 weeks in Clarks Court Bay Grenada did that.

[tommays]

I have always raised my waterline to level that handles the splashing as a stripe of bottom paint that gets a bit wet is IMHP not going to look that nice