Bottom Paint - TC255

J

jaber

New member
Like many others I am planning on keeping my TC255 in the water 24x7x365. In fact, I am not even going to get a trailer (as I really have no where to store it or way to tow it). Getting bottom paint on the first time from the factory is no problem; the question I have is how in the world do you apply bottom paint on a TC if you have no trailer? Most of the places I have called around to are unable to lift a Cat, rather by sling or fork. I have a sad feeling that I will be paying a pretty penny to have someone take it out and paint it every year or two...

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Chris
 
I drove my boat from Anacortes to La Conner and the folks at La Conner Maritime slung it out and put it on one of their stands to put the paint on.

Warren
 
Chris-

Most BIGGER boats (30 ft or more) have no trailer, since they coudln't be towed on the road by anything else but an 18 wheeler.

For bottom painting, they are hauled out of a special slip by a Travelift crane, set on jackstands, painted, then returned to the water.

I don't remember the cost per foot for the round trip.

There is also a cost per day for the boat to set in the yard.

If you hire a yard to do the work, they include the Travelift and yard fees in the paint job price.

I' guessing you could get the TC-255 re-painted for around $1000, give or take some based on the yard's location and type of paint. The catamaran type bottom may drive the price up some because of it's complexity.

The first time bottom paint job costs a lot more because of the cost of sanding the gel coat and applying several barrier coats of epoxy paint to prevent blisters.

Joe.

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Slings and travel lifts have no problem lifting the TomCats... Maybe they are thinking sailboats? Mine goes in and out all the time on lifts. The trailer even has opening slots for the slings, and slings are how they get the TomCats on and off the semi trailers.

I do know some marinas using fork lifts don't want to lift TomCats.

John
 
Not only travel lifts, but I have seen fork lifts with straps which were capable of lifting a TC--Another option is to borrow a trailer--but it is much easier to do the bottom with the boat on stands/blocks--most hauls including moving the stands once--but since the cat sits on blocks without stands, you might get the yard to move the blocks. If not, you paint the area of the blocks while the boat is in the slings before it goes back into the water. Most bottom paints can be launched when the paint is not entirely dry.
 
I was wondering how I might get the bottom edge of the Tomcat pontoons while on the trailer. With former boats I would use a jack and carefully distribute the load with 2/4's to 'just' lift the boat off one side to slide the brush under. Then repeat for the other side....

Any alternative suggestions for painting while on the trailer?

Thanks
 
This is great news, especially since I have been told numerous times that XXX marina would not lift a cat in their sling. Thanks for all the info! I am VERY glad to hear that it CAN go on a lift and get painted for a decent cost. The dealer is quoting around $1700 for it out of the factory, and I am glad to hear that I could have it done at a marina for less the second, third,...etc time. Anyone use any specific marina's in the NW that can do a lift and paint? Right now I am planning to dock it at Tyee for full time as it is a pretty good price, especially considering I live so close.

Another related question to you TC owners that keep it in the water all year - are you using Ablative or Hard Coat. Ablative sure seems to be the better option.

Thanks again!

Chris
 
Even if you keep in the water all year, it will still have to come out of the water for servicing the motors. How do you plan to handle that?

If the boat is out of the water for more than a few days- which is likely if you are getting the service done by a shop- then ordinary bottom paints will lose their effectiveness. You need a paint that will remain active in spite of drying. Most of us use Micron CSC (see the thread mentioned in my earlier post).

Enjoy your boat! The Tomcat is a lot of fun.
 
It's a good idea to check with local boaters to determine the best bottom paint for your area. I use Petit Unepoxy here in MA. I have used several types and this has been the best. I keep my boat on a mooring from April to November. Thankfully my new Tomcat has been painted with this paint. I find it lasts two seasons on the mooring. I also pull my boat a few times a season to powerwash the bottom.

$1700 is a lot....with a trailer or even stands you could save some serious money by doing it yourself. A lot of people don't like to paint though. I don't enjoy it but I save a ton of dough and I know it's done right.
 
$1700 is incredibly low charge for bottom painting a TomCat 255 - especially if you consider it should include several epoxy undercoats after thoroughly cleaning the wax, etc., off the new hull. Here in the MidWest, bottom painting is very expensive and few marinas will do it due to the toxic chemical laws, employee liability, and other constraints. $2500 would be cheap here for an initial bottom paint job. I paid about $3,000 for mine if you include the travel lift, multiple blocking, etc..

I used to paint my own boats' bottoms in the Wichita area, but now they won't let you get a spot of bottom paint on the ground and are trying to restrict copper paints, etc.. My houseboat hulls I'd do just as Matt mentions, jack up one side and block the center and the high hull, then paint. The TomCat is probably strong enough just to support each sponson.

I think the factory does it less expensive because it is done before the hull is finished, so better access and they already have all the EPA rules and liability covered with the boat-building process.

I'd have the factory do it.

John
 
There are certainly a lot of variables from boat to boat, region to region, yard to yard, paint type to paint type. and local enviornmental laws.

When I first had the CD-22 bottom painted (y2k), the estimates ranged from $1100 to $1900 depending on the yard and the number of epoxy barrier coats.

Subsequent replacement of the bottom paint estimates ran from $400 to $700.

The Petit Trinidad paint on my Sea Ray costs $240 a gallon and is 75% copper by weight! Not every yard will even use it around here, either! Touched the boat up on the sides and bow last Spring with one quart that cost a little over $100 at WM (aka Winged Money).

Joe. :smileo
 
To answer Matt's question about painting the C Dory when on a trailer. I not put the boat all of the way on the trailer--and then put a 4 x 6 or so across under the aft end of both hulls--with two sets of cribbing and jacks. I use 6 x 6 timbers for cribbing, and stack them four square. (You can effectively do this by lowering the tongue and then jacking it up, taking the load on the 4 x 6 and cribbing, with out the jacks. There was a post, that the factory said it was OK to support the boat by the center bridge deck--so I would put blocking there, and slowly work the trailer out, as you would for any other boat. After the trailer is out--and the boat on blocks--then you can move the blocks to get those spots missed on the first go-around.

Anytime you move a boat off a trailer, it takes a lot of time and planning plus being sure that you will be safe with adequate blocking.
 
Jaber: Congrats on your TC255. When should you take delivery...or did I miss that?

Look out if a price looks too good...it just might be. You have to school up a bit on the primers, and the final coatings. Good advice above about watching out for bottom paints that CAN NOT remain dry for long periods.

They pull your boat for regular maintenance, find something they need a part for, the wrong part comes in, they get the part,,,but find another something broke...it is a 3 day holiday and/or the brown, yellow & purple trucks are all runniing overtime, the yard closes because it is Thanksgiving...and soon, your boat has been high and dry for 2-3 weeks. That is boating. So, plan for Mr. Murphy and his friends.

The FIRST TIME the work is done is the very most important. It is like the foundation of a structure. No matter what goes on last, if what goes on first is improper, it will be screwed up for the life of the boat....unless, some poor soul stands around for days with sanders and chemicals and gets it back to the original bare boat...and starts over properly. Most yards charge about $60-$90 an hour. The primer and final bottom paint coatings themself will be rather spendy, if real good stuff that can be left out of the waters for extended time are used. drying times (weather if outdoors) can effect how long it takes. Extreme temps, bunch of rain... high humidity... Go slow here. Make good choices, ask questions of anyone who is going to do the work, go there during the process, look for the cans on site. Spend what it takes to get it right.

Good luck with your boat.

Byrdman
 
Edmonds has a work yard across the street from the Port. Most people have their boat lifted out, taken to the work yard on the travel lift or fork lift, and either bottom paint their own boat or hire someone to do it. There are a couple of people who work out of Edmonds. We had our Ranger 25 done by someone at LUSR who did a great job at a reasonable price. PM us if you are interested in his name and number.

Nancy
 
matt_unique":1ii39rd9 said:
It's a good idea to check with local boaters to determine the best bottom paint for your area. I use Petit Unepoxy here in MA. I have used several types and this has been the best. I keep my boat on a mooring from April to November. Thankfully my new Tomcat has been painted with this paint. I find it lasts two seasons on the mooring. I also pull my boat a few times a season to powerwash the bottom.

$1700 is a lot....with a trailer or even stands you could save some serious money by doing it yourself. A lot of people don't like to paint though. I don't enjoy it but I save a ton of dough and I know it's done right.
Click to expand...

At the end of my dive today I decided to do a good inspection of my hull (with scuba). Nothing crazy to report, I noticed a small ding in my fiberglass that I will repair when I pull it for the season, but the most interesting thing was the sweater on the rear of the hull! I did notice a 2kt reduction in cruise speed today compared to my usual speed for the particular power setting. I did not notice this reduction last weekend when I was out. Anyway this level of junk would certainly do it. Next Sunday I will plan a dedicated hull cleaning dive to get it back up to speed.
 
Shucks I thought you were cleaning the hull each time you dove. When we were sailboat racing, the bottom got a good cleaning (and sometimes wet sanding with 1200) every week.
 
When I was looking at TomCats, Bill at the Outboard Motor Shop in Oakland, CA stated that they have a TomCat trailer in order to work on the motors of customers that own a TomCat, but not the trailers. It might be worth inquiring of the C-Dory dealer in your area to see if they have a similar setup, and if so, perhaps you could work a deal for a time that they aren't using it. Best of luck.

David
 
Ha ha - yeah well you would think with my diving I would be cleaning the hull more often! Yesterday was a wake up call to pay closer attention and give it a rub down more often.

I have my own trailer for the Tomcat but no convenient means of a high pressure wash-down for example. My last boat was small enough such that I could literally pull the whole thing into a self-service car wash and clean the hull several times a season. The top of my Tomcat measures 13' on the trailer so it will not fit into the car wash bay ;)

At the end of the season I will be renting a power wash from Home Depot to clean it off good at the house. Bob - I recall you said Marie did not appreciate what your power washing did for the lawn (he he) so I will learn from that lesson and do it at the end of the driveway.

It is amazing how much this junk affects performance. At 3400 rpm I get 22 knots and she was steady at 20 knots yesterday at the same rpm. I knew something was going on and voila. I was thinking of using a bunch of sponges...any other suggestions as to what I should use to clean her off? There are a few barnacles that will require something firm.

I use the boat every week, 815 nautical miles and 79 engine hours so far this season. I guess I did not notice a little 'foundation' growth then over the last week or so it just went nuts down there. Anyway - will be ship shape by the time I'm done next weekend.
 
We have a 10 hp 2500 PSI gasoline driven power washer for the big jobs, but recently purchased a relitaively cheap electric 1700 PSI lower flow washer for the boat small jobs. We find that this will clean off the growth of the bottom--and with some soap, and turned down, it works fine on the decks of the boats. (I don't like the high power washers on the glass). We had used a 3500 PSI large volume washer at one of the haul out yards and it took the bottom paint off nicely!
 
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