Do I need bottom paint for 60-90 days in Puget Sound?

wa500

If I were to put the boat at a Marina in the Puget Sound for 60-90 days, do I need bottom paint before doing so? Or can I get away without it?

WCF · Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 11:20 am Post subject:

How often will you use the boat during that time? Will the boat be in fresh water or trailered the rest of the time?

Dreamer · Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 12:47 pm Post subject:

Simple answer, No. A good pressure wash when you retrieve the boat will clean it up nicely.

wa500 · Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 1:52 pm Post subject:

"How often will you use the boat during that time?"

Hopefully every couple weeks? We'll see, I've never done this.

"Will the boat be in fresh water or trailered the rest of the time?"

Trailered, but curious how this is important as long as there's a period where it's cleaned and dried before storing in the water again in a future year/summer.

WCF · Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 1:55 pm Post subject:

Dreamer is right you're totally fine without bottom paint, and once you paint the bottom, it is extremely difficult to go back.

My questions were based on my experiences with keeping my boats in the water all season, but that was more like 200 days, where I think it becomes a little more debatable.

wa500 · Posted: Thu May 18, 2023 2:09 pm Post subject:

Thank you. I rather not bottom paint it, TBH. Expensive and less pretty.

Anything special I need to do when pulling it out to clean it?

[url]blob:https://imgur.com/135ccbe2-3973-4fea-b4fd-2011bc524a67[/url]

drbridge · Posted: Fri May 19, 2023 7:32 pm Post subject:

We took at trip to princess Louisa and desolation sound a few years ago and after three weeks in the water I was shocked to find barnacle growth completely covering the bottom and quite a bit up the sides and transom too. Areas and marinas that have low exchange rate and high temperatures can promote growth much more rapidly than cold water. It was a real pain getting that stuff off. I know others that have experienced the same. Take a look at the other boats in the marina and areas you will be boating and ask around. We decided to go with bottom paint because I never want to do that again and we want to be able to go where we want for as long as we want without having to worry about it.

smckean (Tosca) · Posted: Sun May 21, 2023 2:04 pm Post subject:

I live in the San Juans, so I am in that water all the time. I have no bottom paint. I find that if I leave the boat on its mooring buoy for more than 4 weeks, it starts to be tough to power wash off barnacles....but not unreasonably so.

As noted above areas with low tidal exchange, and therefore warmer than normal temperature, could accelerate this. However, I spent 8 weeks around Vancouver Island last summer with a good 4 weeks of that in the warmer waters east of the island. After 8 weeks growth on the bottom was very low (even less than the 3 or 4 weeks when I'm mostly on a buoy). My guess the difference is that I moved almost every day. I had many spells of doing 20 MPH for a few hours, and hours and hours of hull speed, and very few "layover" days.

Hellsranger

I put my boat in a slip at Squalicum Harbor mid May through September, and keep it on a trailer the rest of the year. The first year the boat was only in the water for three months and had no bottom paint. Used the boat a lot, and crossing Bellingham Bay usually does a pretty good job of power washing a hull. I was shocked at the amount of growth at the end of that season, and the actual damage done to the gel coat from hard growth, ie: barnacles. Pressure washing didn't cut it. Had to sand and epoxy coat and then bottom paint the hull. I've learned my lesson and have the bottom paint freshened every two years. I would not recommend parking an unprotected fiberglass hull in a salt water slip for three months.

Karl Konecny · Posted: Tue May 23, 2023 4:13 pm Post subject:

I agree with HellsRanger. I keep my boat a Winchester Bay, Oregon for two or three months in the summer -- on a trailer the rest of the year. I use the boat quite a bit, two days a week unless ocean conditions are too rough. I do have bottom paint but have learned that I have to protect everything not bottom painted that is in the water (transducer, trim tabs, lower portion of the motor mount) or the barnacle growth is terrible and very difficult to clean off. Power washing does not cut it. Elbow grease and acid wash is what it takes. I now have the trim tabs painted and cover everything else with a liberal coat to zinc oxide cream. I still have a tough but tolerable clean up job at the end of salmon season. My slip neighbor does not have bottom paint but pulls his boat out at least every two weeks and pressure washes it which seems to keep the junk off.
I don't worry if bottom paint detracts from the boat's look. It's below the water line when I care about appearances.