Case Study
Bottom paint failure:

What are the symptoms of Anti-Fouling paint failure?

POOR HULL PREPARATION

The boat: 2003 34' Silverton

The problem: The entire boat had a uniform look, paint flaking off exposing "shiny" white gel coat.

Evidently the boat was not prepped well prior to the first application of paint. After the boat had been stripped it became obvious the mold release wax was not removed, resulting in large areas of flaking paint. The uniform look of the hull prior to stripping, leads me to believe that wax remained on the majority of the hull, or that the yard had not used the proper solvents/techniques to remove the mold release wax. Paint only adhered well in several areas, the transom, from the chines up to the waterline, and several random areas that were prepped with an orbital sander.

Solution: Soda blast the hull and start the paint application process over again. The surface has been cleaned yielding a uniform sanded (soda blasted) finish. The hull is lightly sprayed with water to insure all contamination has been removed. If the water beads up or separates, wax/contaminates are still present.

Before:

Flaking paint, revealing the Gelcoat

After:

Case Study:
HIDDEN DAMAGE/REPAIRS

The boat: 2003 34' Silverton

This boat is a classic example of repairs hidden under bottom paint, which surprise many owners who are unaware of there existence.

The pictures show repairs that were not visible before the boat was blasted, the green filler was adhered well and fared smooth.

The three repairs at the waterline were poor quality (resin was overlapping paint and peeling back with little effort) One more repair along the starboard chine is another example of a poor quality repair.