The next step in preparing for the summer was addressing the bottom of the boat. Over the previous season it was clear that the owner applied a soft VC-17 paint for anti-fouling.
The paint job looked ok and I was considering just removing any loose spots and reapplying VC-17. However I wanted to learn about any past sins and decided to sand the bottom down. I started with some 200 grid paper and went to town. The VC17 came off relatively easy and revealed a hard coat of copper colored paint. I figured this as
Interlux fiberglass bottomkote in racing bronze based on the old cans left on board. I decided that since I was already sanding to bring the bottom down all of the way and sanded off even this coat as best as I could. I didn't want to go too deep since the previous owner told me he had it barrier coated only a few years ago. The photo below shows the results of the sanding. As a lesson learned, next time I'm using an orbital sander with vacuume attachment, the dust was aweful and my respirator barely did anything to help. At the end of the day I was completely covered in nasty black dust that I'm sure cut a few years from my life.
Once everything was sanded down and relatively smooth I decided to go back with the same interlux fiberglass bottomkote product. I didn't want to worry about compatibility plus I really like the look of a bronze bottom paint. I think the overall results were spectacular. The product says that it only needs to be reapplied every other year. This seems a bit aggressive so I'll pay lots of attention this summer and fall to determine how effective the coat is in preventing algae growth.
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