Penetrating epoxy on bottom of sailboat?

Question

this is an old sail boat, the bottom paint is flaking off. the more i sand the more it just chips off. would covering it with epoxy and then painting over it with some new bottom paint be fine?

Answer 1

You need to get the flaky stuff off before you repaint the hull.   Depending on the hull material (wood, fiberglass, metal) there are lots of options.  

Interlux Paints has a great web site with a lot of helpful ideas and even videos of 'HOW TO' .

Enjoy.

Answer 2

What kind of hull?  Wood, fiberglass or aluminum....

Fiberglass, you just sand until you are at the "Glass" and then paint the bottom paint on (use a fine sandpaper or wet/dry type).

Wood, you will need to get to "Clean" wood, then primer it and then paint it.

Aluminum, you need to talk with the paint shops in the area to find out what the new paints are able to do.

Good luck.

Answer 3

I presume you're speaking about a fiberglass hulled, cored, sailboat. If so, when we did ours we first got some goopy stuff and spread it all over the old paint. After about an hour, you start scraping off all the old paint. Clean, rinse, sand, repair any blisters you might see.

We put two coats of two part primer on first followed by three coats of two part ablative bottom paint. The broadsides were then done using the feathering method. Still no problems after 4 years.

Answer 4

No. Epoxy that is connected to bad bottom paint will eventually still keep coming off. You need to have a good base for permanent repairs. Get all of the old stuff off first. After this check the quality of the hull and repair any issues there. Follow up with coat of new anti-fouling bottom paint for long term fix.

Answer 5

Regardless of the material the hull is made of, the old finish is failing and needs to be removed prior to any re-coating. You say "older" sail boat, so I am assuming that it is a wooden hull? If so,  then a couple of coats of inter-protect followed by a coat of V-C anti-fouling paint. With aluminum, you will need to primer with a zinc primer before re-coating with bottom paint. Fiberglass can be coated directly with an epoxy paint. Or if you prefer a more costly alternative, you can re-coat with CSC bottom coat. Do some investigating because there are quite  a few options  and price ranges to choose from depending on what your hull is made of. Good luck and always...Happy Boating.