I am currently still repainting a 18ft motorboat and would appreciate any input from the members of this forum.

I have painted the sides of the hull and cabin with toplac, but have yet to paint the underside of the hull. My boat is trailered all year round and is only used for leisure purposes for a max of say 12hrs per trip on inshore coastal and occasional fresh water use.

I have found toplac to be quite a soft paint and already have several paint chips and damages in my new paint. Could I use or would you advise antifouling the underside of the hull as she is on a roller trailer or stick to the toplac. 

My concern is that if I toplac the underside the rollers will just scrape it off during launch and recovery. Does anyone know if antifoul is harder wearing and aslo will it be damaged by being out of the water for long periods of times? 

I would be grateful for any advise or help on this matter

Many thanks

Neil

Most antifouls are probably softer than Toplac and considerably more expensive, they are also completely unnecassary if the boat is only in the water for 12 hours at a time. You would be much better with a two pot paint, more difficult to get a nice finish but much harder.

It depends to some extent whether you are painting over a sound substrate as there is no point in putting a hard paint over a soft surface.

Happy boating

having read your piece i was wondering if you could mark where the rollers contact the hull and try using some treadmaster yhis may seem a little rough but used it and then painted it over it comes out with stippl efect but is very effective and of coarse sacrificiale ,it in your case will not effect performance or fuel consumption

cheers steve

Thanks to both of you for your replies. seems i have some thinkingto do.

Thanks agian

Neil

If you use Toplac below the waterline and leave the boat in the water for any time, it (the Toplac) will fall off!

Toplac is just an oil based gloss paint with a fancy name, typical International marketing hype (b******t). B&Q or Dulux is just as good if not better and far far cheaper! In fact Dulux Silthane is probably the best quality non-2 pot paint available.

The only paint that will adhere below the waterline is either 2 Pot Poly (which you should have used on the topsides - far harder and longer lasting, an epoxy paint (only use it if you have bare gel-coat, or a primer!

If you are unsure what you have on the bottom I would suggest either removing it all and go back to the gel coat - which may be more trouble than the boat is worth - or sand down the bottom apply 1 coat of Primocon (or metallic pink primer if you find any left on the shelves), then give it a couple of coats of the cheapest antifouling, it will look smart and if you ever leave it in the water for more than a couple of days, you wont have to spend weeks getting all the growth and barnacles off - you'd be absolutely amazed how much grows on a bare hull in 7 days - 2 weeks and even a pressure washer wont get it all off!

Thanks for your replies.

When I bought the boat it had been antifouled by the previous owner some years ago and looked tatty and faded, so I have sanded it all off and now need to just paint the underside of the hull. have looked at the price of 2 pot and its quite expensive. also need primer and then a top coat??? Have I understood this correctly. 

Thanks

Neil