Best Racing Bottom

[tdevoe]

I'm putting a new bottom on our recently acquired Farr 37. We race in fresh water in Montana, it's 90 percent about going fast and only about 10 percent preventing sea monsters from attaching them selves to the boat.

Currently I'm planing on using VC-TAR with VC-17. That is what we have traditional used, It works well, but I'm ALWAYS looking for any edge.

How does Baltoplate compare?

Has anyone tried the Liquicote product from KISS Polymers?

Have I over looked anything?

Thanks

[zz4gta]

People who use Baltoplate on the Ches bay love it, but it is not for high fouling areas or for someone who doesn't clean their bottom every single week. No exceptions. It may do really well in fresh water too, but I don't have any personal experience with that.

[Gary M]

If you want to seal the gel coat my preference is Interprotect 2000 then VC17. You do want to get a very smooth hull after aplying the epoxy and that takes some work but worth it.

[GeorgeB]

So, what type of bottom does your Farr 37 have? Is it faired? NACA profiles on the foils? How was the current bottom applied? Sprayed and burnished?

[tdevoe]

I acquired the boat in the middle of the season last year. The boat currently has a red ablative coating. One of the previous owners must not have been a racer. The bottom appears to have been faired at some point. Both the keel and rudder look like at some point someone cared enough to provide the very best. This winter we added a small bulb which at this point still need to be faired in. Silly me at that point I said lets just redo the whole bottom, how hard can that be?

[tdevoe]

Gary, I have limited experience here our previous boat came with a great bottom and I just had to keep it up. Why do you like the Interprotect 2000 over VC-TAR?

[Paladen]

After sailing freshwater for 20+ years it seems that the Interprotect system (1000~3000 depending on requirements) with VC-17 is always the way to go. I'm waiting and looking for something else, but it has never materialized around here. you have to keep your bottom clean, and have all underwater items fair. I don't like VC-Tar (from personal experience), but I have a friend to swears by it (?).

[jarcher]

A lot of people like the hard paints, like the Vivid for racing boats. No fancy teflon but its quite smooth when sprayed on and burnished.

[hellosailor]

I only know one boat that uses Baltoplate. The owner has it hauled between most races, and must either have many faithful crew or a large budget because it looks like one big shiny graphite mirror. Perfectly faired and polished. There may be other hard finishes that match it, but I think you'd be hard pressed to beat it.

Bearing in mind, you may need to haul or dive and keep on scrubbing it. It is designed for speed, not maximum antifouling.