I agree with most of what Gary says but I am not aware of many C&C boats that ever developed blisters...my knowledge is of boats in more northern climates maybe, like here around Nova Scotia. And as far as the racing goes, I appreciate for guys like Dennis Connor and his book "No Excuse to Lose" that a clean bottom is faster but for most of us, we lose by other means. So if getting the bottom perfect is what you need to do to gain those precious seconds then strip her down fair everything to perfection, long sand the bottom and dry sail the boat...that seems a lot of work for club racing but sometimes ego rules...otherwise just clean and repair the bad spots and concentrate on improving some of the other skills that will make you chances of winning better...unless you want to do a lot of work or if you are particularly concerned about how the bottom looks on the hard before launch
-----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of Gary Nylander Sent: March 25, 2014 1:52 PM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List Bottom Paint Question If you're not looking for the ultimate racing bottom, why not do a careful scrape to get the loose stuff off and put something on top? Talk to the paint manufacturers or West Marine - they have tables of what goes over what. You can put something like Hydrocoat over just about anything and, because it is ablative, it will mostly come off in a year or so and you can continue (as long as you aren't getting big peels) as long as you want. Baltoplate is very hard and smooth and doesn't have much copper or other anti-fouling properties, that's why the racers use it, but they dive on the boat every couple of weeks or more often. A hand sanding just to put some 'bite' on what's there (after getting the loose stuff off) should get you through the year. Use a sponge sanding block, then roll on whatever you decide to use. But, sooner or later you should have all the junk taken off and get down to gelcoat and then put a barrier coat on - that will keep the boat from absorbing moisture and possibly developing blisters. When I peeled mine, I found that it already had a barrier coat (PO?) and that was good. I have been using Hydrocoat ever since. Gary _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
