Bertram33 User Forum

Hi All, I had my bottom soda blasted last fall and now waiting for 55deg temps to add tuff stuff 2 part barrier coat. My question is has anyone used a hard bottom paint of a different color over the expoy before using an alblative paint?

Recently had my bottom blasted, barrier coated, and painted. Opted not to do any different color paint coat underneath the new semi ablative paint. Used Seahawks biocop tf. Figured the worse case scenario is when you haul it the gray barrier coat would show through any thin spots in the black bottom paint. I do have a diver scrub the boat regularly who also keeps an eye on the bottom paint condition.

That’s the paint I’ve been using since Micro Extra was not available. It did come back on the market this year but I had already purchased the SeaHawk. I am still mixed on the hard paint under the BioCop.

The way the biocop paint was marketed to me was that it was a multi season paint. I’m going on year two of my last bottom job and had no bare spots showing after a year in the water. Being you are in Mass I’m sure you haul for the winter so the paint should last even longer. I’d save your money on the hard paint and just do the ablative / semi ablative. The whole reason I blasted mine was that I had many seasons of buildup of hard Trinidad SR and wanted to get the 15-20 layers of paint off the bottom in the first place. There’s no way I was putting it back on there. If you want to do a different color as a warning layer underneath I would still just use the biocop.

Thanks Asher. I too got multi years from both Micron extra and biocop

what Asher said- No need for hard paint first, if you pay attention you can see the barrier/grey and know it is time for more paint. Many boats that are blasted and painted using a hard coat and then ablative have failures between the hard and soft. Seahawk CuCoat works well along the mid Atlantic coast and is most popular with the sportfishing crowd.

Settled no Hard coat. I have three kits of 2 part Seahawk Tuff Stuff One white 2 grey sitting with 2 gallons of Biocop awaiting 55 degrees.

And waiting and waiting and waiting,

No Sh-t If this wind from the north doesn’t change we’ll never get there. Tested the Seahawk two part Fairing compound yesterday. Found it to be a little stiff to apply. It pulled out of the small blister holes as I applied. I had to apply it a bit thicker than I wanted.

How’s that bottom coming Tony. I took a nice slip and slide across the gunnel Sunday morning on ice.

All the little dimples have been epoxied. I was waiting for 55 degrees to do the barrier coat it’s finally here and I have to go to N.J. This weekend. The new soft top is being made and all the wiring has been pulled for the new windlass. Did you get hurt? Luckily you didn’t end up in the drink.

After removing about six coats of old hard bottom paint from a 24' center console boat using chemical strippers in the middle of summer, and dealing with all the chemical burns on my arms and legs I vowed to never use hard bottom paints again. After buying "Phoenix", with a coat of hard paint of unknown manufacture I started using Seahawk's BioCop TF ablative paint. I haul every other year and repaint. I am very happy with the results. Once I went three seasons and still felt I had good coverage but did have some small areas of barnacles starting to grow. I have yet to find a technique that works well on the metal running gear however. I haven't tried PropSpeed or any other system, but am considering it the next time I haul.

Frank, I use that Pettit gray spay in a can. I’ve used it for 6 years now and it seems to work. I can’t remember the exact name I have a can of it in the garage; i’ll Send the name.

Capt'T I second that.(enthusiastically!) I've been using it on all underwater gear; props,shafts,struts & strainers/seacocks Here's a link to the stuff: http://www.pettitpaint.com/products/und ... e-barrier/ I've been using it for about five years very pleased with the results. No, I don't own stock in the company. [:D]

Saw this on Bertram31 site. Haven't verified yet Rustoleum cold galvanize spray (same as Petit at 1/3 the cost ) Cheers