My 1995 C&C 36XL/Kcb is used mainly for local club racing with occasional forays to CRW. I think her PHRF of 120 is reasonable and at CRW she finished in the middle of her PHRF class in spinnaker racing boat for boat with a similarly rated J-30 whose rating was the same because of a penalty for an oversized pole. About 2 years ago, I had to strip the bottom to the gel coat since the bottom paint build-up was excessive. Two coats of barrier coat were applied and then Petite Black Widow was improperly sprayed on by my yard—they admitted they were unfamiliar with how much it needed diluted to be applied (afterward), when the barnacles showed up much sooner than expected, likely a result of too thin a layer of this paint. I had them repaint the bottom with Petite Vivid, with which they were familiar, and they rolled it on with a short nap roller to avoid the extra expense of tenting, etc. for a spray paint application of the same paint—which they had done in the past. I am contemplating going back to a smoother bottom and several local yards have agreed that the solution is to rough up the current hard ablative Petite Vivid, apply/roll 2 more coats of the same and then manually sand/burnish the bottom by sanding these coats smooth, basically sacrificing some of the just applied paint to ensure a smoother bottom. I get it, especially since 2 independent yards proposed this, as more practical/less expensive than my initial thoughts of sanding the current paint down and then spraying several coats of Vivid. This work by the yard will cost ~$4-5000. My question for the list, especially the racers, is how do I maintain this sanded bottom when I must reapply another coat or 2 of bottom paint next year? Must I repeat the process (roll on 2 coats and sand smooth) for another $5000? If so, I am not sure if I should proceed. A ~$2000 per year bottom refresh is tolerable—a $5000 per year is NOT. So how do the racing listers keep your boat bottom in ‘racing’ condition year to year? Must I ‘bite the bullet’ at $5000 each year or is there an alternative that is less expensive and thus more reasonable? I will not do it myself—to much work not to mention the hazard of the paint dust/vapors/etc. Charlie Nelson1995 C&C 36XL/kcbWater Phantom ex
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