Bottom Paint?

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bshillam

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C Dory Year
1981
Vessel Name
Heaven To Me
We haven't yet had any bottom paint put on our dory. I was wondering, if trailered and not moored what's the point of bottom paint? The longest the boat is in the water is about 1 week in the summer, otherwise it usually is only two to three days. Thoughts?
 
If you're staying at a guest mooring, they may have "pennant lines" already there. Pennant lines are those spliced around a metal thimble so as to prevent line chafe. This allows for metal on metal instead of tying a line to a metal eye.

If the moorings do not have pennant lines, you just have to securely tie to the mooring with a line. Time and movement will chafe right through the line but not for an overnight or a day on the mooring. Just check your lines periodically for wear where they connect to the metal eye at the top of the mooring buoy. Rougher conditions will cause the line to wear through faster of course.
 
Wrong topic Matt!

I wouldn't put bottom paint on it. Just wash it off good when you haul. If you put paint on, you'll always be doing it. I wish I didn't have it, our boat is on a lift, the previous owner put paint on it.

Charlie
 
Huh...ha ha...don't know how I missed that!
 
First make sure you are planning to tie up to a public/state buoy. There are lots of private buoys and owners are not thrilled to find someone on their buoy when they arrive, plus, not all private buoys are well anchored to the seabed. State/BC provincial park buoys have a fee (currently $10 for state) for use and after mooring you should dinghy to shore to fill out a fee envelope then display the stub in your window. In BC's Montague Harbor a park ranger came out in late afternoon to check that people had paid fees and they could pay him directly but he was a lot happier that we had already paid.

I approach the buoy heading into the wind/current so the line attaching it to the bottom is "behind" it from my perspective, hook it with a boat hook and run my 25' bow mooring line, the other end of which is cleated to my bow cleat, through the ring on top of the buoy. Then I walk the line forward and cleat the bitter end to my bow cleat making sure the line is not interfering with bow rails, etc.; that way when I am ready to leave I just uncleat my line and can pull it free from the buoy. A couple of points...make sure you don't snug the buoy right up to your bow, it can/will bang into your hull all night long, leave a little swing room; and, be sure to check both the ring and your mooring line for chafe especially if bad weather is expected. Some people set an anchor alarm when on a buoy just like one would if at anchor. If bad weather is expected I think I would double up the lines to the buoy.
 
colobear":mjsqggwc said:
First make sure you are planning to tie up to a public/state buoy. There are lots of private buoys and owners are not thrilled to find someone on their buoy when they arrive, plus, not all private buoys are well anchored to the seabed. State/BC provincial park buoys have a fee (currently $10 for state) for use and after mooring you should dinghy to shore to fill out a fee envelope then display the stub in your window. In BC's Montague Harbor a park ranger came out in late afternoon to check that people had paid fees and they could pay him directly but he was a lot happier that we had already paid.

I approach the buoy heading into the wind/current so the line attaching it to the bottom is "behind" it from my perspective, hook it with a boat hook and run my 25' bow mooring line, the other end of which is cleated to my bow cleat, through the ring on top of the buoy. Then I walk the line forward and cleat the bitter end to my bow cleat making sure the line is not interfering with bow rails, etc.; that way when I am ready to leave I just uncleat my line and can pull it free from the buoy. A couple of points...make sure you don't snug the buoy right up to your bow, it can/will bang into your hull all night long, leave a little swing room; and, be sure to check both the ring and your mooring line for chafe especially if bad weather is expected. Some people set an anchor alarm when on a buoy just like one would if at anchor. If bad weather is expected I think I would double up the lines to the buoy.
Click to expand...

I would never put bottom paint on someone's mooring buoy. That would really chafe my line!! :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
Must have made the nerd gods angry. When I clicked on "mooring buoy" to answer I got "Bottom paint". I suppose one could get a case of bottom paint if tied up too close to a strange mooring buoy!!
 
Bottom paint is a pain in the rear to apply and maintain.

That said, if you can guarantee that the boat will be in the water NO MORE than 5 days, you don't need bottom paint. We had a 25' sailboat without bottom paint, and than there was the time we spent 2 weeks in the Sacramento Delta. Never did get all the stuff off.

And that's the point, C-Dorys are meant for cruising. 2-3 week on the Columbia, 1 week or so in SF Bay, a month in the San Juans, and you need bottom paint.

If you do put on bottom paint, remember to use epoxy primer to seal the bottom, and use an ablative paint which can stand being stored on the trailer.

Either way enjoy the boat.

Boris
 
We have old ablative bottom paint on Frequent Sea--after 2 months in the water, there was a little scum on the bottom paint and also on some of the gel coat, since the boat has a bit of a port list. It cleaned off easily when the boat was hauled at the end of the cruise.

I agree I would not put on bottom paint unless you are going to put the boat in the water for several weeks at a time on a regular basis. Just keep the bottom well waxed, so that if there is any minor growth, it will scrub off easily.
 
my two cents...i trailered my last boat and never had bottom paint on it, longest stay in water was probly a week or so, never had probems getting the bottom clean, on my c-dory, i just epoxy primed and painted the bottom, 150 grit before primer.......
 
Hope this makes it to the bottom paint link and not the mooring link..Grin.

Well, some of ideas and thoughts come from being the one who had to clean the gunk of the bottom of the boat when we pulled it out as a kid. It almost turned me away from boating... almost.

I would not own a boat for myself without a couple of good coats of epoxy followed with ablative bottom paint that holds up well after being out on the hard for a while... some are meant to stay wet...

If you are a day boater in waters that are clean...you will get buy without it...but there sets a limit to something other than me deciding what I can and can not do on my boat without "hard work..." cleaning the bottom.

In our summer river waters, getting up into the 85+ range, water temps...stuff grows real fast...even if you are moving a bit each day....so even that one week trip making 50 miles a day will leave some cleaning work. In the winter waters here, temps down below 50...way less of an issue...but, who want to be limited to just winter boating...?

To me, it is just part of the boat. Then, I can come and go as I please...where ever I please...and the bottom is clean...and yes...in about 3 years... when the bottom paint shop is slow.... I ask them to give me a call....bring them some ribs...some beverages.... and bingo... I am good for another 3 years... Just part of boat ownership for me and I can spend my times with friends having fun rather than cleaning the bottom... which by the way...there will be no friends around when it is time for that bottom cleaning. :teeth :thup :smiled

Byrdman
 
colobear":y1gztmcd said:
Must have made the nerd gods angry. When I clicked on "mooring buoy" to answer I got "Bottom paint". I suppose one could get a case of bottom paint if tied up too close to a strange mooring buoy!!
Click to expand...

Glad it's not just me!
 
My answer to your "should I bottom Paint?" is no. Even in the hard growth capital of the U.S, Florida , a week [especially with the boat being run daily or so] is ok . Bottom paint is an ongoing cost . You still have to clean the bottom, though you paid somebody to paint it for you ,or did it yourself , and it wastes fuel energy unnecessarily . If you can avoid painting, by all means do.
If your boat lives in the water for weeks or more without moving , it is recommended .
On a trailer , it makes no sense .
Marc
 
Well, we are West coast sailors, but we did spend a couple of years on the East coast. All the way from Mobile to the Hudson. Clearly our boat had bottom paint, which did a good job.

However, our Avon inflatable didn't. It sat in the water for 10 days, 10 days only, guaranteed. When we pulled it out to move up the ICW, it took 2 hours to scrape the bottom clean of growth. Used every dull edge we could get hold of. I was impressed. Of course it was in the summer, but it was spectacular.

I don't know how much difference between 1 week and 10 days, but there was a lot of "stuff" on the bottom.

Boris
 
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