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Random Quote: Scars Are Tattoos With Better Stories
We Just got our 2001 Tournament. The prior owner had the bottom painted and now it needs repainting. My question is this: what is the best type paint to use for only cosmetic purposes. It will be trailered at the end of each day of use at the coast. Will never be left in the water. I thought I had read somewhere that epoxy is best for this purpose. Any thoughts appreciated.
The big problem is going to be making something adhere to the existing paint. Several companies are now making hard bottom paints, but you'll need to do some sanding to make them stick. If do you strip the bottom paint and want to paint the hull, my Parker 25 was painted with Awl-grip. It worked very well on the bottom of a trailered boat. Stripping bottom paint is a pain, but in my experience soda blasting is not the answer.
Oh, it only cost me about $15,000 to repair the gel coat damage done by soda blasting two coats of paint off my 31 Jupiter. I got three bids; the first was $18,000, the second was $26,000 and the third was just under $15,000. Strangely enough, I was really happy to get the $15k bid.
I think the basic problem was that the operator could not see adequately with the boat tented and a blast suit and respirator on. The yard that did the work was happy with the results. If you do a search under "soda blast" you'll find pictures. A lot of it came out good, but they also went through the gel coat and into the glass in enough places that I had a hard time finding someone to do it. The work was done by a large and respected yard.
Why not use the same paint that's on the boat now? Since you're going to keep it on a trailer, it really won't matter how effective it is. Just ask the owner what paint is on there now. He may even have some left over.
Another option is to have the current paint stripped as much as possible and changed to an ablative type paint that won't loose it's effectiveness when kept out of the water. Micron CSC is an ablative type paint.
Removing the paint and restoring the bottom to an original condition is expensive -- ouch!
Why not use the same paint that's on the boat now? Since you're going to keep it on a trailer, it really won't matter how effective it is. Just ask the owner what paint is on there now. He may even have some left over.
Another option is to have the current paint stripped as much as possible and changed to an ablative type paint that won't loose it's effectiveness when kept out of the water. Micron CSC is an ablative type paint.
Removing the paint and restoring the bottom to an original condition is expensive -- ouch!
I have the same problem: trailer the boat, and need a bottom paint for looks only. The original owner butchered the sanding on the bottom, so I need a dark paint on there to hide all the sins. If you strip your paint, you may find the bottom of yours in relatively good shape and requires just a light sanding/heavy compounding to get decent gelcoat. When I stripped my bottom paint, parts of the hull looked like new gelcoat (however, other sections were very heavily sanded). I am using Micron Bottomcote (a hard paint) which Micron says is their recommended coating for trailering. The bunks WILL abrade the paint off in time leaving streaks of white in front of the bunks on the trailer where the hull contacts the bunks as it is being winched on the trailer. If you have carpeted bunks, I would think water sitting against awl-grip would affect it over time. I would absolutely avoid ablatives. They would come off much quicker than the epoxy, and anyone rubbing up against the side of the boat will really appreciate you. You might look at one of the VC products (but I think they only come in white??). Some are supposed to be good for trailer boats.
I had the same problem and while sanding off my existing bottom paint found the gelcote to be in good condition. I followed the direction of a prior post and sanded off the paint, compounded and waxed the bottom and it looks great. While it is a verry unpleasent job I found it to be worth it.
Interlux VC Performance Epoxy is designed for what you want to do. But you would have to remove all the existing bottom paint first. If might be easier to sand it smooth an apply Petit Vivid bottom paint, which you can mix in any color you like. You might want to try sanding away most of the existing paint and then removing the rest with paint remover. You may be aboe to restore the gelcoat with compound and polishing.
Bottom Paint and Trailer 
