by GreenLake » Wed Apr 24, 2013 1:17 pm
From the receipts I got with my boat I deduce that the paint job that came with the boat held up for something like a decade (on a dry sailed boat). The prep work for that one had been "indifferent" at best, because the gelcoat crazing was clearly visible...
The deck paint has done equally well. Sections not covered by tarp show some weathering, and there are isolated areas where paint is separating into layers, but, except for where it was scraped off (scratches or rubbing by sheets) it still covers the gel coat, also after more than a decade.
Paint does not last as well as gelcoat, but anecdotal evidence like this implies it should last quite well, not comparable to, say, varnish, in the level of maintenance required.
Unfortunately, paint formulations are changing rapidly, mainly because of environmental regulations, so it's impossible to get a recommendation out of past practice. However, magazines like Practical Sailor do run regular tests.
I drysail my boat, so I don't need an actual "bottom paint". When I repainted the hull last year, I used System Three's water reducible linear polyurethane. LPU paints are really abrasion resistant, as long as they are applied on properly prepared surface (otherwise they peel really easily).
~ green ~ lake ~ ~