Just got news about an issue with the hull on the 375. This boat was antifouled by the Catalina dealer, as part of the delivery 12 months ago.
It was slipped recently and we were surprised at what we was revealed when the vessel was water blasted . I discussed the problem with Greg from Marine Painting and Mark from MP Marine who is a shipwright and they both agreed that the likely cause is
· Primer was not dry when the anti –foul was applied
· Possibly primer was not mixedproperly
· Maybe was rain affected
The solution is to sandblast the bottom and reapply primer and antifoul.
Anybody have anything they can add?
Regards
—
Cat375 - Rock The Boat - Hull 54
Lake Macquarie - NSW - Australia
I sure wouldn't be sandblasting that bottom, you are going to lose a ton of gelcoat. A guy in our marina sandblasted a CS last year and there was nothing left of the gel coat, it is way too aggressive. Soda blasting is better, chemical stripping will not damage the gelcoat at all but it's messy.
I did this two seasons ago, I used CORN MEAL for blast material, It will remove all bottom paint right down to the BARRIER COAT which is a hard epoxy type paint. (NOTE: CORN MEAL WILL NOT REMOVE ANY TYPE OF EPOXY) nor does it damage or hurt the gelcoat in anyway.
We used 150 lbs of fine grade corn meal, the other option is soda blasting (which uses baking soda)
I ended up doing my C36, a Hunter 375 and a Cal 9.2. The best part of this was the cost breakdown between the three boats was a little over $183 per boat. I lucked out having three other friends wanting to do their bottoms also.
It is really easy to do. We rented the sand blast kettle, compressor, and a forced clean air helmet. (all from an equipment rental company) You tarp the boat at water line level, and throw some tarps on the ground.
We had one guy feeding the kettle, one manning the hoses so as not to get hung up, and me doing the blasting (WHICH IS EASY). I would say there was at least 10 years of bottom paint on my C36 Fin Keel hull, it took aprox. 1 hr and 20 minutes to complete the job. Then it was a little sanding, I had two small blisters that were filled and sanded touched up with barrier coat, and then the bottom painted.
The nice part about corn meal is it is a low velocity aggregate material, once it hits the area it drops to the ground keeping the mess confined to your area of work.
Hope that helps
FAIR WINDS & FOLLOWING SEAS
Jeff Costa
S/V KAIROS Hull #0235
To me it looks like they just put a very thin layer of antifoul on that boat, maybe 1 coat thinned out to make a gallon cover everything. It wears off first on the leading edges like the bow and front of the keel. 12 months is half of the life I get from my bottom paint, but I do two full coats plus a third coat on the leading edges.
The little dots are a bit of a concern though. Are they raised blisters or are they just holes in the paint?
Jason V
Vancouver, BC, Canada
The little holes are not blisters, they are holes in the antifoul.
Sandblasting using something soft would be the way to go.
Its just another stuff up by the Australian Catalina dealer.
Catalina make great boats, but I am still struggling to find somebody that can say a good word about the local dealer, or his technical people.....
But don't get me started on this topic :)
Cat375 - Rock The Boat - Hull 54
Lake Macquarie - NSW - Australia
I'd be more worried about that keel anyways - someone's put the bottom half on sideways!
Jason V
Vancouver, BC, Canada
[QUOTE=jsc4484;10630]I used CORN MEAL for blast material[/QUOTE]
The nice thing about this method is that you can make muffins after.:D
Goofy Mike
Deja Vu
1991 MK I # 1106
Marina del Rey, CA