Geoffrey Freer wrote:

Being new to sailing I hope this question is not too naive....

Being naive is paying $200 labor, like I just did. Having spent many
not-so-happy hours scraping and sanding all the layers that'd
accumulated, the previous owner had applied ablative paint, which
apparently goes away on its own every couple years, and was now due
again, so I signed up for a repaint. When I stopped by a few days later
it was finished but the paint *rollers, etc.* hadn't been picked up yet.
The paint's expensive but looks like the work is *almost* as hard as
painting a bedroom. Next time .....