[C320-list] How Often to Repaint Hull

[Troy Dunn]

This might be like the what anchor is best question. (Fortress...all day
long) I think it will be highly dependent on where you sail, how you sail,
how you overwinter, what your paint preferences are, how environmentally
concerned you are, where you think your money is best spent, how much free
time you have, how well your bottom is prepped, how you apply the paint and
what conditions are like that day, what you do for primer/barrier, how you
tie coat, etc. etc. etc.

Obviously that’s a lot of variables and I'm positive I missed quite a few.

Wonky Dog is kept in fresh water and occasionally sailed into brackish or
full salt water, the boat is kept in Havre De Grace at the top of the
Chesapeake and sails as far as we can get with the time we have but never
out of the bay, the salt line moves north during the summer.   When we
bought the boat we had no information on what bottom prep was done
originally, and I can absolutely assure you that if you do your homework
you will hear some real horror stories about dealers in the northeast who
did not properly bottom prep 320s and 350s prior to bottom painting brand
new boats.  (Hint...there is mold release on the vinylester hull that was
apparently not removed prior to applying the paint)  Our boat was in need
of bottom paint and no barrier coat was originally applied save the rudder
which had a barrier coat of some unknown white material.  Despite a lot of
reccos to simply sand the existing bottom coat and recoat with another coat
of ablative paint we opted to soda blast and then do the entire bottom
job.  We used Interlux 2000E barrier coat and hot tied it to micron CSC and
hot tied that to an additional coat of micron CSC, we hot tied a third coat
of CSC to high velocity/turbulence areas at the bow, rudder, and wing
keel.  The finished product is on it's third year.  We have not yet seen
evidence of significant wear other than in areas that we have bumped the
occasionally crab pot, mooring ball or flotsam/jetsam.  I suspect we will
be touching up again in the spring and possible needing to sand and recoat
after four years.   Our boat is on the hard from the second week in
November thru March.

Your mileage will absolutely vary, but I am really glad we took the time to
do this right and didn’t skimp on the paint.  Saving $200 on paint won't
even begin to compensate my time if I have to do this every two years.
Figure you will burn at least two solid weekends plus an hour or two in the
slings before splashing to do this job.  Soda blasting is best left to a
professional if you go that route.  Some people opt to go the sanding
route, that did not appeal to me at all, add some more time if you decide
to go down to gelcoat and start over by hand.

You can find pictures of our bottom job in the owners gallery.

Cheers

Troy

Hull #514