How to tell if paint on bottom is antifouling?

For issues common to different models of DaySailer.
Except Rigging and Sails.

Moderator: GreenLake

How to tell if paint on bottom is antifouling?

Postby marcusg » Tue May 19, 2020 7:39 pm

Working on my boat today (which is a Daysailer knock-off that has passed through numerous hands before me) and, after reading some posts about how bad roller trailers can be, I checked for damage. No holes per se, but plenty of really bad scratches and cracks in the exterior (nothing through the glass or anything like that.)

Anyways, my "I'll just paint the topside and interior" project might have just changed to also include minor repairs and repainting of the bottom.

I don't, however, know if the bottom was painted with antifouling paint. Is there some kind of test/tell-tale sign to tell? Overall, the previous owner seemed to have gone with really basic paints (I think he literally used some kind of housepaint on the deck/interior.) But I would really, really like to not have to get a hazmat suit, haha!

-Marcus
marcusg
 
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:39 pm

Re: How to tell if paint on bottom is antifouling?

Postby GreenLake » Tue May 19, 2020 9:25 pm

Antifouling is of interest if you leave your boat in the water for long periods of time. If not, it's not something to even worry about. So, define your parameters.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
GreenLake
 
Posts: 7136
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:54 am

Re: How to tell if paint on bottom is antifouling?

Postby marcusg » Tue May 19, 2020 9:57 pm

Oh, sorry, I wasn't clear. I don't intend to use anti-fouling paint because I dry-store the boat. But what I'm asking is, since I need to do some work on the existing bottom paint, is there a way I can tell if the *existing* paint is anti-fouling, as that would require me to get a lot more PPE. Like some sort of test or "tell" just by looking at/manipulating the paint. Or a test kit of some sort like with lead paint.
marcusg
 
Posts: 133
Joined: Thu Aug 16, 2018 10:39 pm

Re: How to tell if paint on bottom is antifouling?

Postby GreenLake » Tue May 19, 2020 10:20 pm

First, does the paint look different above/below the waterline? AF paint wouldn't be used above the waterline. So, if your boat is red above and blue below the waterline I would suspect AF paint. If it's white above and below, with a black stripe at the waterline, and the paint appears identical, then no. If it's gelcoat above the waterline and paint below, that's a give away. (Paint on gelcoat can be scraped off, for a test).

Other than that, I've not been around the various AF paints enough to know how to tell them apart.

Oh, do you know whether the PO kept the boat in the water? If not, i.e. if kept on trailer, the chances are low - first, it wouldn't have been needed, and second it's hard to get AF that works well w/ the bout mostly out of the water.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
GreenLake
 
Posts: 7136
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:54 am

Re: How to tell if paint on bottom is antifouling?

Postby GreenLake » Tue May 19, 2020 10:28 pm

I may have found a photo that shows a two-toned color scheme. If the bottom color is not gel-coat, but also paint, then indeed, it could be AF. Likelihood depends on how the boat was kept.

As you can tell from my comments, never had to deal with that myself, but have been reading about big-boat maintenance a lot - where that is an issue. Perhaps, best approach might be to use a safe paint stripper? So as to not generate unnecessary dust. Also, you might find more expertise with AF paints in forums for bigger boats.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
GreenLake
 
Posts: 7136
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2007 3:54 am


Return to Repair and Improvement

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 14 guests