Got me a slip for the season…….

[SkunkBoat]

The type of bottom paint matters. There is "hard" paint that has to be in the water. Once its out for a few days it starts oxidizing the copper. Over a winter it is shot.
Hard paint is good in Florida where you don't haul the boat for 6 months.


There is Ablative paint. It can go in and out and you can paint in the fall and be good next spring. I use it. I used West marine CCP with good result. I tried West Marine PCA (more copper) last year because it was on super sale. Definitely was better. Used it again this year.

Generally, you can paint Ablative over old Hard but not the other way.

Go on the West Marine site there is a good explaination of bottom paint.

[Giorgio]

Skunk is right!! I forgot to ask if you knew what type of paint was already on your boat. I used Interlux CSC, an ablative paint which is a multi year paint. I think that paint goes now, I bet almost $300 a gallon. Back then I was paying $100. My friend Lloyd who has the Wellcraft, uses the West Marine paint and he swears by it, I don't know which one he uses, but I've helped take her out and she was clean.

[charlie_the_tuna]

i'm gonna be honest here... i'm gonna keep this boat one, maybe two seasons. although i may change my mind and keep it for ten years.... it's in beutiful shape. the current plan is to use the crap out of it for 2 years and sell it before the move down south and find my dreamboat when i arrive in the promised land. the paint on there now is in decent shape. no growth and it appears to be a couple layers thick. the marina is not located in stagnant water so i don't expect too much growth.
worst case, i'll blast and reseal the bottom if i decide to keep it. for now, i'm gonna drop and go.
my real issue is zincs. i don't see anything aside from the trim tab zinc. on my I/Os, there were zincs everywhere. the trim tabs are bennett smart tabs, so there's no electric hookup. just a spring loaded self adjusting tab. as i mentioned, i don't know if the entire lower unit comes out when tilted up. even if i change the trim tab zinc, i don't think it will be in the water. i see zero prior growth from the boat being moored. what do you guys think about new zincs?

[charlie_the_tuna]

AND…. Will I be able to tilt the motor all the way up and flush it with fresh water through the hose hookup? And will it flush when it’s not running?

[ashokrags]

Originally Posted by charlie_the_tuna

AND…. Will I be able to tilt the motor all the way up and flush it with fresh water through the hose hookup? And will it flush when it’s not running?

Motor will usually tilt all the way out of the water, just need to make sure your spot is long enough and that you have enough space. I haven’t tried to flush the motor when tilted. Also I am not sure if the hose is fresh water or not. It will definitely not flush when it’s not running. You will need the earmuffs to flush. My mechanic said it’s ok to not flush through the season, as long as you run it often enough. I do pull out midway sometime and it gets flushed then. I haven’t seen any others out there who flush their motors after coming in although they have newer motors than mine which is a ‘91 Yamaha 175 2 stroke. Hope that helps. Should definitely consider bottom paint, I almost skipped last year and was glad I didn’t. You might even get away with just putting in a coat over what you already have and see how that goes over the season.
Hope that helps

[SkunkBoat]

Motors made in this century have convenient flushing ports to connect a freshwater hose and flush the motor when it is NOT running. Most people has quick connect fittings to make it really easy. I always flush my motors.

Your outboard MUST have an anode (zinc or aluminum) bolted to the bottom of the motor mount. They all do.

Often they have some internal to the head.

If you don't paint, you will have trouble getting on plane by August...

[Blue_Runner]

I've never had a slip, but it sounds like it is pay now or pay later Charlie. Might be easier to paint over now than have to scrape off growth and paint later. I guess it depends on what shape the existing bottom paint is in?

[spareparts]

if the boat has been trailered, it will have hard bottom paint, it can go in and out of the water, but its not as good as ablative for long term. Ablative will get hard if its left out of the water too long, we used to lightly pressure wash them before putting the big boats back in the water to get the hard top layer off so the ablative will do its job. Hard paint(trailer boat paint) can effect your performance depending on how much paint is on the hull, and how good of a paint job was done. Soft pain(ablative) will most defiantly effect your performance, we usually drop down at least two pitch sizes when putting ablative paint on. Its normally only used for big boats that stay in the water for extended amounts of time. My sea hunt was purchased from a guy that ran a diving service, he kept ablative on it. My boat is about 10 mph down from what it should run, I've been pressure washing the bottom every chance I get, once i get most teh paint off, I'm going to wet sand the bottom and try to pick that speed back up. I don't know how bad the growth is up there, but down here we have divers clean teh bottom once every 6 weeks in the off season, then from may thru September, its cleaned once a month, plus the day before you plan to run it.