Matching (or close) Bottom Paint

Ekea

Ekea

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ill be painting the bottom soon and want something that is as close to color matched to the GW gelcoat color as possible. it would need to be a hard paint (not ablative). has anyone used something that looks pretty close?
 
Light hulls ( white:) will show slime and marine growth more than darker colors
 
seasick said:
Light hulls ( white:) will show slime and marine growth more than darker colors
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thats fine. my boat lives on a trailer. more than anything, i want to pretty it up since the current paint is splotchy and i dont want to pay to restore it to gelcoat and definitely dont have time to do that myself. i want it to look as close to not bottom painted as possible
 
I'd go with a contast (like a muscle car interior, I favor black) as you are using ablative paint. The whites will fade to light brown over time anyway and look like slime/scum.
 
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Fishtales said:
I'd go with a contast (like a muscle car interior, I favor black) as you are using ablative paint. The whites will fade to light brown over time anyway and look like slime/scum.
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im using hard, not ablative.

i prefer the look of no bottom paint, so i am trying to minimize contrast
 
Lives on a trailer and using hard paint? Suggest you investigate.
 
it looks like im going with petit vivid. i heard on THT that "standard" pigments can be added to it. i plan to call petit and confirm
 
Ask about compatibility with existing bottom paint. Appropriate prep is critical
Of course make sure you follow the instructions especially about using a 3/8 nap or smaller roller. That paint like other Pettit paints does not like thick coats.
 
I had Vivid on my last boat. Can’t help with color, it was black.

It was a perfectly fine bottom paint. Looked much better than the typical chalky ablative stuff. Boat was trailered and no issues with it over 6-7ish years. Still looked good when I sold it.
 
FWIW- My current boat came with nasty old bottom paint. If I ever get around to removing it, I’d go back with VC Performance.

But that also looks like a lot more prep than what I did before rolling on the Vivid.
 
DennisG01 said:
How long can the boat be out of the water with that?

Why the worry about NOT using ablative?
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petit's website says that it is "excellent for racing, trailering, or rack stored boats". id assume long enough
 
Ekea said:
petit's website says that it is "excellent for racing, trailering, or rack stored boats". id assume long enough
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From that statement, it sounds logical - but it might be worth a 2-minute phone call to them to verify. Although in your case, I guess it really doesn't matter if the paint stops protecting since you're not keeping it in the water.

But commenting about your first post regarding "needing to be a hard paint"... that's not true, even if you're trailering all the time. The "worst" that happens is it wears away a little where the bunks are... and of course no one will ever see that part!
 
technically, i dont need bottom paint. i was just trying to keep the discussion on non-ablative paints because i dont want one that will wear off
 
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Ekea said:
technically, i dont need bottom paint. i was just trying to keep the discussion on non-ablative paints because i dont want one that will wear off
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Gotcha.

For what it's worth, it's going to take years for the paint to wear off to the point where you start to see through it with ablative.

I haven't dealt with hard paint in a long time (since the ablatives are generally the "go-to" anymore)... but when it comes time to touch up the hard paint... isn't there scraping and sanding involved?
 
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To illustrate Dennis's comment regarding ablatives, this is what 15 years of not caring about ablative bottom paint looks like on a trailer boat. It's gone at the water line where we do more scrubbing of harbor scum and also where the trailer bunks rub. Everywhere else it's still very effective.

1743548902522.png
 
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