oppinions to barrier coat or not????

[miky2884]

Im looking for some opinions on whether to barrier coat my bottom or not. The guy i bought the boat from lift kept the boat so the bottom is bare right now, so if I where to do it now is the time. At first I thought it was a no brainer to definitely do it. But as i have started doing more and more research and talking with people who have done it, im finding maybe its not worth the money and the time. I spoke with a guy at west marine the other day who did his 36 ft boat that stays in the water 2-3 years at a time and he did it three years ago, and when they pulled the boat this fall he had blistering on the bottom, so he said he would not invest the time and money into it especially since my boat will only be in the water 6-7 months out of the year. He filed a case with interlux and they are sending technicians down to survey his boat. Just wondering what your guys thoughts are to do or not to do.

Thanks!

 

[TimC2520]

I did mine 3 years ago. I had it stripped (soda blasted) because of peeling paint issues.
I just decided since it was bare, I'd barrier coat it. You are correct, it is alot of work.
If the hull doesn't have any issues, my thinking is that it's a personal preference. Some say yes, some say no.
I will say that I haven't painted the bottom in 3 seasons now which I like. The boat is wet slipped from March-April to December. I'll probably put a coat of paint on it in the spring as some of the tell coat is beginning to show.
For what it's worth, IF you decide to do it, don't cut corners, follow the instructions to the letter....

 

[Brent]

I dont know but the gel coat layer is porous and there are different gel coat formulations. Parker uses ISO NPG (isophthalic neopentyl glycol) gelcoat which is a premium gel coat and less porous than other gelcoats. This might be worthwhile to research by gel coat type and contact the factory for their comments

 

[350bake]

Although it was a smaller boat, I had the bottom of my 1976 20 mako sodablasted and I applied the Petitte barrier coat and hydrocoat paint myself. The sodablast guy estimated a hundred pounds or so of old paint came off the bottom. I had blocked the boat myself (I am leery to do the same with my 25 pilothouse) and it was not a tough job at all to apply the paint given the smaller hull and blocked. I remember doing it during the NFL draft weekend. I am looking to get my parker sodablasted this spring and I will look to apply a barrier coat and bottom paint myself. As someone had suggested, the one thing I may do differently is apply two colors of bottom paint. As the outer color wears away it will reveal the other color underneath indicating she needs a re-coat. My cousin has my mako and the bottom has not been re-painted for 4 seasons (May to Oct). As above, make sure you follow the directions of timeframes to apply the bottom paint once the barrier coat is applied. I like the barrier coat because I do not plan to have to do this very often at all. Good luck.

 

[drvan]

In New England, probably not. If it will be in the water for longer periods of time, I would certainly consider barrier coating. My Parker has been in the water more than 3 years down here in Florida. During that amount of time you risk blisters without barrier coating.
If you do get it barrier coated, make sure it's done right though.

 

[miky2884]

Thanks for all your replies and advice. I called Parker the other day and they where nice enough to connect me to the finishing department where i spoke with a gentlemen about it(where else can you get that service???). He advised me as someone else did in this thread as well that Parker uses one of the hardest gel coat finishes on there hulls, and do to my boat being in the water 6-7 months out of the year he advised me that he didn't feel it was worth my time and money. I think im going to skip the barrier coat and just use the Pettit hydro coat.

 

[Megabyte]

The whole barrier-coat-or-not, is a flip of the coin.

Like you, when I bought my boat it was not bottom painted and lived on a trailer for 8 years.
Trust me when I say that proper bottom prep before painting is absolutely mandatory.

Rather than do the job myself, I had my yard do the bottom job since they have a lot more experience in putting a bottom on than I do.
That first bottom job had to be re-done every year for the first 3 years because when she came out of the water in December and was power washed, the paint came off in sheets. :shock:

The yard stood behind their job and ended up putting two more bottoms on her before calling the Interlux guy and having him look at it.
His suggestion? Sand the whole bottom off down to the gel coat and apply a primer/barrier epoxy coat... 4 coats if I remember correctly.

Each coat had to be applied within a certain timeframe of each other in order to get proper adhesion.
After the bottom was ready for paint, I had them put the first coat on in blue, and then the top coat in black.
That way we know every winter when the boat comes out if it needs a new top coat. If you can see blue, it's due.

Since the bottom was prepped properly and the epoxy applied, I have had zero issues with the bottom, which I'm sure thrilled my yard to no end.
They lost money by doing it wrong, and then having to re-do it (several times).

Now... Was the epoxy barrier coat the reason that the paint finally stuck, or was it the sanding and proper prep a second time?
That my friends... is the $64,000 question. That's why I stated right up front, that to barrier coat or not... is a bit of a coin flip.

Proper surface prep (before paint) plays a huge role in how satisfied you will be with your paint job.

 

[miky2884]

Kevin thanks for your response and helpful information.

I do know proper preparation of the hull is key to making the paint stick on the boat. My last boat was never barrier coated and at the end of every season i could see the blue gel coat (the hull was blue) showing through in a few areas, but the paint never came off in sheets. I thought about calling pettit to ask them but i know they are going to tell me that they recommend me using there barrier coat product so that will be useless. My cousin Bryan doesn't have a barrier coat on his 03 2530 and his bottom is in good shape. Like you said it really comes down to a coin flip but id really like to by pass the barrier coat if its not 100% necessary due to cost and time.