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(Mike) wrote in message . com...
I have a 18ft Sea Ray bow rider that I kept in the water for a year in
West Palm. We now keep it trailered and I would like to remove the
anit-fouling paint I had put on it (to regain the speed I lost). Can
anyone recomend how to do this and what paint I should put on (I don't
need anti-fouling, just the standard hard paint)? I assume I'll have
to sand the old bottom paint first.
Thanks in advance,
Mike

I'm not sure where you beleave you lost speed due to bottom paint,
unless you have many layers. I have yet to see a boat loose speed,
measurable speed (the best I've seen was a knot or two due to very
thick paint built up over many years), due to bottom paint, unless
they have many layers. Maybe a very high speed boat, but not the kind
of boat your talking about.

Once the bottom paint is on it's hard to get off. Your best bet would
probably be to have the bottom "sand" blasted (they don't really use
sand on fiberglass boats) and then paint the bottom with a paint that
comes close to the gell coat color, maybe one of the teflon bottom
paints. Or you could have it re-sprayed with gel coat, but it's going
to cost quite a bit.