Painting Your Small Boat
We had a reader ask a few painting questions and we referred them to a couple of past articles. For others of you preparing to paint, here are three of our past articles on the topic. Also, please share a favorite paint type or brand (and any other thoughts) in the comments section below. —Eds
Anti-Fouling and Bottom Paints
Up until the time I moved Ternabout to Delaware and the Chesapeake Bay, she had been either trailer sailed or had been in fresh water. Fouling wasn’t a problem sailing on South Holston Lake in Tennessee. Gradually, a thin coating of slime would build up on the bottom. It was fun to don a facemask, jump into the cool water on a hot August day, and scrub the bottom. Truth be told, we scrubbed more often than necessary, but we stayed cool.
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For what it's worth, I "painted" the bottom and some trim on my Pygmy Coho kayak (bright finished okoume plywood) with epoxy and graphite. West Systems sells a pint of powdered graphite that will go along ways, though it takes 2 coats to get complete coverage. I'm sure that depends on how much graphite you use. I'm not sure this gives a lot of abrasion resistance, but probably better than just paint. It is easy to touch up when you do get dings in it. Which reminds me, it's probably time for me to be sanding and re coating. I always store kayaks out of the weather and sun, which is especially hard on all finishes (including gel coat).
We are very pleased with the Interlux Interprotect 2000E bottom paint we applied in Spring. We'd sanded down to the gel coat due to a few blisters and some other fun stuff. The 2000E went on well (5 coats) and the coats of antifouling bottom paint went over that easily and it all looks to be holding up well after an active summer. More from me on this product next year!