Butch Davis wrote:
Trojanman,

If your Trojan has been in the water since 1980 and you have no osmotic
blisters I'd guess you won't be getting any very soon. If it was my boat I
probably wouldn't use a barrier coat.

As to which antifouling paint to use..... I'd check with as many other
boaters in your area as possible to learn what they are using and what they
have been most happy with. When I was boating in fresh to brackish water I
used a hard vinyl paint that the racing sailors seemed to prefer. I would
put two coats on over the entire bottom using a roller followed by another
coat around the chines and transom up to the water line. I had very good
results with the vinyl paint and the hull cleaned up perfectly with a good
power washer in just a few minutes while hanging in the travel lift straps.

For the next season I'd sand any rough areas (very minimal) and add another
coat. After three boating seasons I'd go back down to gel coat and start
over.

Most of the boating I was doing at the time was in the upper Potomac River
with a few trips over to the Bay each year. Fresh water is easy.

Butch
"Short Wave Sportfishing" wrote in message
news
On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 08:25:20 GMT, trojanman wrote:

I have sanded my 1980 30 foot Trojan down to gel coat on the bottom.
I am trying to decide which route I should go for bottom protection.
I would like to two part epoxy seal the bottom to protect it from
blisters (I dont have blisters now) and then with some sort of bottom
paint. I have read about larger boats gaining 2 or 3 knots simply by
using a particular bottom paint. My boat is moored in fresh water 90
percent of the year and may only spend a week or two in the salt.
Idealy I would like to it bare gel coat but I am worried about
osmosis. Any input would be mauch appreciated. Thank you

Painting is always a good option. In fresh water, it really depends
on a bunch of factors from pH to tannin stained or other stains.

Personally, if you can do it, I'd match the bottom paint color to the
boat's color - I did that with my Ranger last fall and it worked out
really nice - almost looks like a complete hull. Then again, I had
the paint color matched.

I'm not at all sure you need to barrier coat it, but as long as you
are at the gel coat and it's pretty good shape, then I'd barrier coat
it first. Not that you absolutely need to, but as long as you are
there, why not?

If you do not have blisters by now, you probably will not get them.
Using a barrier coat might even be harmful so I wouldnt do it.