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John Wheeler
Sydney, New South Wales
Boat Name: Serene 2
Model/Year: Boomaroo 22 (C22 Mk I) 1976
Hull No.
Hailing Port: Sydney |
 05/28/2007 6:37 AM Pacific Time
I am planning to prepare my boat for long-term mooring and have heard that applying a barrier coat of marine epoxy paint is recommended.
The boat has already had some antifouling paint applied to it, which I am planning to sand down before applying a couple of new coats. However, I don't know whether this has been applied directly to the gelcoat or whether the hull has previously been treated with a barrier coat. The boat is 30 years old and has had many owners, so I can't just ask.
Is there any way to tell whether a barrier coat has been applied? Is the gelcoat normally the same color over the entire hull? My boat is painted blue below the water line and otherwise has a yellow gelcoat. If I sand down the paint would I expect to find the yellow gelcoat if no barrier layer has been applied?
Thanks for any ideas!
John Wheeler
Sydney, Australia |
Bilbo
Youngstown, Ohio
Boat Name: Sea Dog
Model/Year: Catalina 22 1987
Hull No. 13971
Hailing Port: Andover, Ohio |
06/01/2007 3:27 AM Pacific Time
John,
I can't speak for your boat bit the barriercoat has some depth to it as if a thick paint ws applied. My epoxy barriercoat is white underneath the antifouling. I have a white boat with blue striping. All of that is gelcoat. The wide blue bootstripe is near the waterline then about two more inches of white gelcoat annd then the barrier coat/antifouling coating. The antifouling has been applied to exactly cover the barriercoat. As you know the antifouling and the barrier coat do two different things. The barriercoat is a waterproofing for the gelcoat. You need this as gelcoat is slightly porus and can soak up water.
As a hint to the location of the edge of the barrier coat, the barrier coat and the antifouling come to a point right at the stern so that it does not go very far up the transom.
Problem that I discovered is that the boat only sits at the waterline when there is not outboard, battery and fuel tank on her. Otherwise it sits about two inches low in the stern. Almost up to the bottom rudder gudgeon.So because I keep mine in the water for the season, I needed to add some epoxy above the stern half of the boat's barriercoat because I was getting some small blistering on the stern area.
So:
" If I sand down the paint would I expect to find the yellow gelcoat if no barrier layer has been applied?"
Most likely. The barrier coat if any could be any color but it shold be fairly thick compared to the antifouling paint. It might not be exactly a very smooth coating. And will not sand away so easily as the antifouling. If you sand down a small section, you should notice a difference in the texture or color.
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