Imzadi (at the time she was named "Scarlet Fever") spent 1976 to 1981 in Port Huron, MI. So she saw fresh water and probably was out of the water for 6 months a year. She was sold in 1981 and moved to Norfolk by the man I bought her from. That's salt water, and Jake or one of the other Southern Bay sailors might be able to say if boats are in the water year round there. I bought her in 2003 and moved her to North Carolina and she's essentially been in our brackish water for 8 of the last 9 1/2 years.
When I bought her, she had several (LOTS) of coats of Trinidad bottom paint on her. Somewhere around 2004 I sanded most of it off, put on a signal coat of Trinidad and a couple of coats of ACP60 ablative paint. No blisters at that time. Last year I decided to raise the water line, and needed to take the top foot or so of the bottom back to gelcoat to put on Interprotect. So I got a really good look at her bottom after all that time in the water. I had one blister about the size of a quarter, and one area that appeared to be a blister, but was just a pocket of water that has seeped in under the bottom paint. So the boat is now 26 years old and has seen pretty average time in the water, and has had one blister. I'm a very happy camper. That said, next time I do the bottom I think I will have all the old paint soda or ice blasted off the bottom, coat her with Interprotect, and put on new paint. She will be spending 6 months a year in warm salt water for the forseeable future, and a little protection is probably desirable. BTW, I had a discussion with the folks at Interlux when I was raising the water line. I was told that bottom paint has a hard time sticking to fully cured Interprotect. Since I was planning to use ablative paint, their recommendation was to let the top coat of Interprotect cure to the point that you can touch it with a knuckle and just leave a mark (not tacky but still a bit soft), and then apply a coat of hard bottom paint as a primer (use a contrasting color and this also becomes the signal coat for the ablative paint). You can use cheap hard paint (though I used Trinidad PRO). Sand with 60 grit after the paint cures and your coats of bottom paint will stick better. Rick Brass Imzadi -1976 C&C 38 mk1 la Belle Aurore -1975 C&C 25 mk1 Washington, NC -----Original Message----- From: CnC-List [mailto:cnc-list-boun...@cnc-list.com] On Behalf Of William Hall Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2012 8:53 AM To: cnc-list@cnc-list.com Subject: Re: Stus-List Barrier Coats Has anyone left their boat in the water for a long time and still have a great bottom? Bill _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
