Practical Sailor just had a letter about boatyards not letting ppl do
their own bottom painting but still charging an arm and leg to have
the yard do it. My experience is that yards do a crappy job with
almost no surface preparation except for a pressure wash. The few
times I have allowed a yard to do it was a waste of money as it fouled
in less than 3 months. 6 years ago, I hauled my boat and sanded the
bottom, applied 3 coats of hard CuO based paint (BottomKote or
something like that)and suddenly had to stop sailing due to business
problems. My boat sat for 4 years being used very little in a place
that fouled heavily. Finally, I had her hauled to be brought to my
home and was amazed to find NO fouling at all. A boat next to mine
was so heavily fouled it grew oysters. I know from some past
experience that my own bottomcoating job is superior to that done by
the yardss but this was amazing. Did I do something right or just get
lucky?