Soda Blast!

Sounds like a cool experiment on MythBusters, no?  Kari Byron with a red umbrella in FHM…you know what I’m talking about.

Well, no, not exactly in this case.  Not when the bottom paint is falling off in chunks.

Not very large chunks, but there some patches the size of my hand exposed, and there are definitely places where you can peel it off with your finger nail and see gel coat.  Hmm…and I thought all along the boat had an Epoxy barrier coat under there.  Problem #2.

Problem numero uno of course is the chunks of paint.  There are a lot at the waterline which is to be expected, but a few more on the hull and some places where this has clearly happened before and been painted over.

There are a few questions to be answered – such as why is the bottom paint falling off, and how to address it.

There are a couple of possible reasons.  The first one that came to my mind was the bottom paint used by the prior owner.  When I asked him what it was he said it was an “experimental paint” he got from someone trying to bring it to market.  That was about as much information as I had to go on, he never did come up with an actual brand or name.  So, given my cash situation at the time we were buying this boat (as in: None Left) painting over it with quality paint seemed the best alternative.  So that is what we did.

The yard I am working with now is pretty certain though that the paint the prior owner got off the back of a truck from some guy isn’t the problem.  More likely there was wax left in a few spots on the hull when it was new for the below the waterline issues, and the waterline issues are typical.  The paint dipping in the water and drying out tends to get flaky.

So there are a few approaches to fixing it.

1. Strip the whole bottom…hence the “Soda Blasting”, barrier coat it and paint it.  Serious cash in a year when I’ve already put out serious cash on electronics and have still not given up hope on getting a new sailing dink past the Finance Committee.
2. Sand all the rough spots out then paint over it all again.  Not something I’ve got time or inclination to do myself, I will still be sanding in August if I don’t actually kill myself inhaling paint.
3. Strip the whole bottom, and put a couple of coats of new paint on it.

The last option isn’t as crazy as it sounds.  I’ve put in a request to Hallberg-Rassy for clarification on why a barrier coat isn’t necessary on their boats and it may well be that I would be wasting my money on it.  Which would make me happy.  Second, if we go two seasons on this new paint job it will be mostly gone the next time the boat is pulled so cleaning the last of it off and adding a barrier coat then – when we’ve planned to spend the money – will not be unmanageable.

I will keep both of you posted as this develops; I am sure you are on the edge of your seats waiting for me to come back with pictures of crumbling bottom paint.  However, I suspect we are 90% likely to go with option #3.  Especially if Hallberg Rassy recommends against the Epoxy coating.