Hey Thank you all for the speedy replies. I think I will pass on the
barrier coat idea. There are no blisters now, so I doubt I will get
any in the near future. I think I will just keep it simple. Wash the
bottom with Solvent wash 202 and paint. I may use a one part epoxy
primer to start. I think I am going to go with one of the VC Offshore
product from Interlux. Its a hard finish with teflon. I believe this
VC’s are a vinyl base product, mentioned previously. Thanks again
everyone who replied.

"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?

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