I have just bought a Hunter Horizon 26 & have started the (painful) process of scraping off the many layers of antifoul to have a clean start. Previous owners have gradually crept up the hull & off the epoxy basecoat applied when new with successive applications of antifoul. I want to paint a dark blue band of paint about 150mm wide around the hull to cover the mess up at the waterline & then apply new antifoul below it.
Can I use a brush/roller applied epoxy paint for the band? What is the correct way to prepare for this without damaging the gelcoat? Should I clean antifoul residues off after scraping with a chemical cleaner?

Hi Steve, as we are at METS, I took your query along to the International Paints stand, and was given this advice by Boris Webber: Along the band you want to paint to "cover the mess up" abrade it to provide a key, and then apply one coat of Primocon (antifouling primer). Then use Trilux (hard, glossy antifouling) to paint the boottop (band).
If you want to use epoxy, you will have to remove all the existing paint, but if you can get it absolutely clean, you should then apply one or two coats of Gelshield 200.
As you don't say where your boat is based, he suggests using Micron Extra, ("a standard antifouling") below the waterline.
Hope that helps! Good luck. Cathy

If this is of any use a friend of mine uses a bootop made of self adhesive plastic, on a roll, which doesn't discolour at the waterline. Am going to give it a go as I am very disappointed at the discolouration of my white boottop caused mainly by oil substances in the water.

Hi David, that sounds really interesting. Please let us know in due course how well it works, whether it is easy to apply, how well the adhesive lasts during the season, etc. You could be starting a trend, here!

Hi Cathy, Just spoken to my pal about the tape and he says: "That tape I used for boot top
was just a roll of vinyl tape the same suff they use for vinyl graphics and still very pleased with it". I imagine application would be the same as for vinyl lettering soapy water and smooth down. So there you go I'm certainly going to give it a try.

Just one possible word of caution. The vinyl stripes on the coach roof of our Sigma 33 were very difficult to remove, once they had become weathered and worn. In theory you just heat them up gently with a hair drier and they come off. This works well with relatively new vinyl lettering etc. But the said coach roof stripes (ten years old?) were beyond that, and needed many hours of careful picking/scraping. I don't know how sea water would affect the glue. Probably you would need to remove/change the stripe regularly to avoid any such problems. Let us know how you get on!

Using self adhesive vinyl for boottops is fine, the vinyl (try and get a 'cast' vinyl if possible, as they are more flexible) is unaffected by salt water and will last many years. The only problem is in applying it round the curvature of the hull as it will tend to crease if you try to do it in one piece (depending how tight the curvature is and how broad the vinyl stripe is).
The answer is to do it in sections from the stern to the bows so that the slight overlap at each join lies with the flow of water.
Regarding the problems with the Sigma 33 coachstripes, Vinyl like most materials will deteriorate in proportion to the amount of UV rays (sunshine) it is exposed to. A hot air gun used to lightly heat the general area and the careful use of a safety Razor blade in conjunction with a spirit cleaner is sometimes the only way.

Hi Brian, thanks for that. It's always great to hear from people who have useful experience to share. It would be good to hear from people who have tried the vinyl boottop solution, and could send pics and tell us how long it has lasted. Looking forward to hearing more...

Hi Cathy,
My friend has just come back to me about the vinyl boottop and says quote "Ref those vinyl stripes had a look the other day and my boottop vinyl stripe looks as good as the day I put it on there two years ago" so might have a go myself when it gets a bit warmer. He also says his coach stripes came off easy with a hot air gun having been on for some years.