Thanks for the website pointers, Sean! Now that I've read a little more, I'm wondering how I'm going to get good enough weather for painting. It's been raining and about 40 degrees the past week. We'd be pretty lucky to have 50 degree days before our time is up at the boat yard...there are a lot of fishing boats being pulled and painted right now too though, so people must just wait for a dry-ish day and go for it. I was just reading the label on the can of Pettit bottom paint my husband thoughtfully bought for me the other day. I figured I'd just have to return it, after talking to the previous owner and hearing about the Interlux. Now that I've read that label though, prompted by reading the Interlux website, I realize that I'm going to have to sand the whole bottom down, or use a chemical stripper - the old paint would fit the can label's description of "soft and in poor condition". So, I may as well just use this Pettit paint if I have to start from scratch. I've been sanding out some ugly pitted spots at the bottom edges of the CB trunk too. I guess I should fill them in with epoxy? So, are there opinions out there on sanding vs stripping? Was it you Sean, that used the peel-away? There are some spots on our bow that are banged-up down to the bare fiberglass under the topside paint too, so I'm going to have to figure out how to touch those up until I decide to tackle the topsides. (Not this spring - that paint is not elegantly-applied, but it's still quite good. I've been taking photos, but now I have to figure out how to configure them properly to share with the site. Thanks for the advice! Danelle in Ketchikan M-17 #378 Newly-named "Ceto" (Nereid/Sea Nymph of Sea Monsters!) ----- Original Message ---- From: "Nebwest2@aol.com" <Nebwest2@aol.com> To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Friday, April 11, 2008 6:17:18 AM Subject: M_Boats: bottom paint Danelle, Interlux has a great website that has their complete boat painting guide on it. I have referred to it many times and it answers a lot of questions re: re-coating your bottom. _http://www.yachtpaint.com/usa/_ (http://www.yachtpaint.com/usa/) You have already identified one of the most important things that you really need to know..and that is what type of paint is already applied (hard, ablative, vinyl, etc). You really need to know the type of paint that's on there and the type of paint that you intend to apply. Then there is a chart in the painting guide that will tell you the preparation steps that you will need to take (scuff, sand, remove completely, clean....whatever) based on your situation. I feel your "pain" as Dauntless is sitting in the driveway awaiting a re-coat of her bottom paint as we speak. It's not the most fun job but I always make sure that I follow the directions of the manufacturer as close as I can. The job of that bottom paint that's on there is to release anything that tries to adhere to it... the last thing you want it to do is to release the newly applied bottom paint on your first sailing day of the year! With the costs of the bottom paint these days, that'd get expensive! Good job on getting that swing keel all fixed up. That's not the most fun job either, but since you did it right you should be good for years to come. Just before we pulled Dauntless out of her slip for the summer I scuba dove the bottom and checked out the condition of the swing keel to see how it's holding up. That epoxy barrier coat has done it's job and is keeping any rusting from occurring. I was glad to see that. Well, it's warming up already this morning so I better go get to bottom painting, just like you. Good luck Sean M23 Dauntless _www.havasumontgomerys.piczo.com_ (http://www.havasumontgomerys.piczo.com) (trying a test to see if it's possible to post a picture below) <img src=“http://howies.net/socalpotter/anacapa2007/58.jpg”> **************Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016) _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com