Bottom paint ...

 Once she was pressure washed and on the hard, I could for the first time get a good look at the hull below the waterline.  When I had dove on the boat the previous summer to give it a scrub, I found just a light film of green algae which came off fairly easily.  To me this said the anti-fouling paint was still doing it’s job, although I did notice a few random places where the paint had flaked off.

I was hopeful that a few hours of prep work and a new coat of paint would make everything hunky dory.  My service advisor agreed and started the prep work.  A couple days later, he called with the bad news that more chunks of paint were coming off as he worked due to a previous layer of barrier coat not adhering correctly to the copper coat below.  He recommended removing all the old layers of paint down to the gel coat and starting over from scratch.  With just a slight hesitation (my previous cost estimate would be out the door due to a huge increase in labor expense), I agreed.  Here’s the hull after a lot of grinding and sanding down to the gel coat:

I had three coats of Seahawk TuffStuff epoxy primer barrier coat (10 mils) applied:

That was followed by two coats of Seahawk Sharkskin epoxy bottom paint with cuprous oxide (copper) which will limit marine growth on the hull.

This should last 2-3 years since the boat is kept in fresh water.  Once the grey barrier coat starts showing through, it’ll be time for another haul out.

NOTE:  I took Sqoop out into the middle of Lake Washington and dove down to inspect and clean the hull three months after the new bottom paint was applied.  I had to wipe away just the very lightest coat of soft growth; it was something you could feel more than see.  None of the black paint appeared to sluff off as I scrubbed lightly with a 3M pad.  I’m very pleased so far with this Sharkskin anti-fouling paint.

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