"katysails" wrote in message ...
On both O'Day's and on Chanteuse we've always used VC 17 every other
year for bottom paint and have never had much af a problem with build
up, even when moored last year, which really surprised me. A lot of
boats on the moorings had garden's growing around their waterlines where
we didn't (but then, we sailed and a lot of them just sat there). Now
that we're fairly certain we'll be moving this summer to the Gulf Coast
of Florida, we have to change our regimen to accomodate salt water. At
present, we have two coats of VC 17 over the new bottom. We asked at
Torresen's and they recommended using Interlux Micron anti-fouling paint
but that we would have to sand off the VC17 (quite lethal stuff) They
quoted 2600.00 plus the cost of the paint to do it.

Kinda expensive, might get a better rate in the Gulf. I can get the
bottom sanded and painted and the cost of the yard motels ect for a
total of 2000 here.

And some of the marinas in Galveston are cheaper and allow you to do
the work yourself if you so desire. I think once your sanding off
paint it's all pretty much the same as far as labor goes.


When we go down in
April, we're going to get quotes from yards threr, too. Just how nasty
would sanding off 2 coats of VC17 be? Is Interlux Micron as thin as VC
17 or is it a thicker paint? How many coats of Interlux can you put on
before having to resand?

Depends on how well the under coats adhere. Most people here sand
between every coat. Some people quick haul everyyear waterblast and
touch up. A good coat should hold up for 3 years with an ocassional
underwater scrubbing.



We'll probably be usiing the boat for live
aboard the first year we're there, so it will be sitting in a marina
rather than on a mooring...seems most of the marinas are on the river
with flowing water rather than still. Will this make a difference in
the growth factor?

Depends on how close you are to the gulf and how far the tital flow
goes. Here the water is brackish, half fresh half salt. If your in
flowing water growth will be much faster, filter feeders love flowing
water. I spent a summer on a canal next to the bay that had adverage
flow of 3 knots all the time and it was amazing how fast growth
attached itself to the hull. Now Im in a surrounded by land marina
with no flow and growth is real slow. Id rather have some flow as it
flushes the marina without a good rain. Weve had a bloated coon
floating around the marina for a week now. Not as bad as a rotten
alligator thou. They stink to high heaven. Perhaps we will get out the
six shooters and pop him today so the crabs can eat him.

Were on the gulf coast do you plan to live?

Joe