www.iFourWinns.com

This has been a great first boating season for us. Our Four Winns is a great boat but is a bit small for the choppy days. We were thinking about upgrading at some point to a larger bow rider in the 23' to 26' foot range (not including the swim platform). The boat would be rack stored so we would not need/want bottom paint. However, there were boats that we otherwise liked except for the bottom paint.

For reference, what would be a reasonable estimate to completely remove the bottom paint on a 26' bow rider down to a shiny, like new gel coat? The estimate would help me figure in the true cost of the boat for us.

Thanks!

_________________
NEW - 2000 Cobalt 246 w/454 Magnum 385HP | SOLD - 2000 FW Horizon 180 LS w/5.0Gi 250HP Volvo Penta

I would think you're going to pay between 20-30/foot just to get the bottom paint off, but then you have to consider what is under the paint? It might end up costing a decent amount of money to get the bottom of the hull looking like a new gel coat. I talked to someone about getting my bottom paint removed and going with an ablative paint in the future (just to get rid of 15 years of bottom paint coats) and was told it would (probably) be about 1000 to get the boat stripped and prepped for a new coat of ablative paint (not including the new coat of paint). This was the mechanic at my marina and I'm sure he'd farm it out and just take a cut, so if you can trailer the boat directly to a business to get it done and cut out the middle man, I'm sure it would be a little cheaper.

_________________
'99 258 Vista Cool Breeze II

To clarify, one of the boats we like has a painted bottom as they kept in a well/slip. If I could get it for substantially less than a boat not stored in the water, it might be worth it. The odds are, we will not get it but I wanted to know as much as I can before making a decision.

Thanks for the input!

_________________
NEW - 2000 Cobalt 246 w/454 Magnum 385HP | SOLD - 2000 FW Horizon 180 LS w/5.0Gi 250HP Volvo Penta

Just about all boats here that are kept in the water are bottom painted so for us its a moot point. But, it is a tough job to remove that stuff and make it look good. It is possible to paint over it (depending on what kind it is, they have compatibility charts) with the newer paints and they have a much greater selection of colors. But no it won't look like gelcoat. What I'd be more concerned with is the outdrive and transom mount, if its been left in the water, even freshwater take a good look at both, for corrosion. My boat has so many coats of bottom paint on it now that sooner or later I have to get removed. God knows how much weight it adds but for sure its costing me speed. I want to get it stripped, have the bottom epoxy barrier coated and then painted with an ablative paint. Currently has at least 10 coats of hard epoxy bottom paint.

_________________
88 Four Winns 200 Horizon
4.3 OMC Cobra-4bbl
2002 Walker Bay 10/2012 Suzuki 2.5
2008 Walker Bay 8

1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4.0/Selectrac
2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi/Quadradrive II

I almost bought a 220 horizon before I found the onei currently have that had the bottom paint. I called a broker buddy of mine and he said for a 22ft boat it would be between $2k-3k.

_________________
2006 Four Winn's H220 5.7 Volvo 280hp
Tow vehicles- 02 ford f250 powerstroke crew cab 4x4
04 Toyota 4runner sport 4x4
http://images.craigslist.org/00H0H_nYvq ... 00x450.jpg

Gelcoat is not waterproof. Why would you want to remove the only thing that protects your hull from water ingress?

My boat was wet slipped for a year straight in fresh. It's taken nearly 6 months of dry dock with only being in the water for a maximum of 8 days a month to finally see it sit almost how it should in the water. It was sitting in the water about 3/4in lower than it should, now it's only about 1/4in from where it should. Sitting on the trailer all winter should finally dry it out.

Never again. Epoxy barrier coat your boat if you spend any amount of time in the water!!!!!

_________________
1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

Most bottom paints for power boats should be ablative. The paint is is about 100 to 200 depending on the quality. IF the bottom paint was DONE right. The bottom should have been sanded and something like acetone used to release the wax.

Also bottom paint does protect it from blistering.

Here is a good article on the subject:
http://www.cruisingworld.com/how/sand-blast-or-strip-your-way-smooth-bottom
This article estimates several methods at $40-60 per foot for the bottom paint removal. That does not include the buffing/polishing time it would take to make the gelcoat look good again (if not blistered or otherwise damaged).

"Soda Blasting" is a common method now (which is like sand blasting, but uses baking soda instead of sand). So look up Soda Blasting in your area if you want to talk to a company about it.

_________________

"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings

3/4in lower in the water? Your saying your boat absorbed over 40 gals of water!

_________________

"Knot Easy" 2000 Horizon 240 Volvo 5.7GS /SX
tow: 2017 Honda PILOT EXL-AWD
prev. boats:
'87 Chaparral 198CXL 4.3 OMC Cobra
'69 Jetstar 16ft Ski Boat, 115hp Yamaha
'68 Aluminum Jon Boat, 3hp Sears
'64 Water Wings

Yup. Next time I wet slip it's getting epoxied.

_________________
1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

I bid on one of the boats we were interested in (2006 Formula 260 BR) but we were the second highest bidder. If the boat were not 10+ hours away, I would have bumped up our bid. To clarify why I did not want the bottom paint, I prefer how boats look without it and I do not want to have to deal with maintaining the bottom paint. Most of the boats we were looking at do not have bottom paint but every once in awhile a great deal comes up.

Thanks again for all of the input!

_________________
NEW - 2000 Cobalt 246 w/454 Magnum 385HP | SOLD - 2000 FW Horizon 180 LS w/5.0Gi 250HP Volvo Penta

You don't like how it looks? That's like saying you don't wear seatbelts because you'll just safely be ejected in an accident.

All boat should be epoxy coated at a minimum. Epoxy is non-ablative and glossy, comes in all colors, seals the gelcoat which is porous. You'll never know it's there. Why don't manufacturers do this from the factory? Some do. Most don't to save money, which has created a false mindset in the new boat owner community which makes them think bottom coatings are a bad thing for some weird reason.

Boat sits in water = bottom coating of some kind mandatory. Fresh water you can get away with just epoxy to keep the hull from getting saturated and your transom rotted. Salt water = ablative bottom paint over epoxy to keep the critters off and hull dry.

_________________
1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

As I said before, the boat would be rack stored indoors, used a couple times a week in fresh water for only half of the year. Will never be in the water over night. I really do not think bottom paint is necessary for our use.

However, after reading the comments above, if we buy a boat with bottom paint already in place we will likely not return it to plain gelcoat as it is just not economically feasible. On the flipside, we will not be adding bottom paint to a boat without it.

_________________
NEW - 2000 Cobalt 246 w/454 Magnum 385HP | SOLD - 2000 FW Horizon 180 LS w/5.0Gi 250HP Volvo Penta

I dry store my boat at the marina just like you plan to. It sits in the water every weekend from Saturday morning at 9am til Monday afternoon. Marinas don't have staff on duty 24/7 to put boats away. Most are 8-5pm and final call for rack storage at my marina is 330pm. So if you plan on boating on Saturday and don't get back by 330pm it's sitting tied to the dock overnight. If you boat Sunday also it will remain in the water until Monday when they get around to rack it. When I tell my Marina to rack my boat Monday morning sometimes it doesn't get put away til Tuesday and as late as Wednesday depends how busy they are.

I currently don't have bottom paint and I wish I did. Even the 10-12 days it spends in the water a month has seriously browned the white (tanic acid) and it's a nightmare to keep the alge off. Sometimes I go early saturday morning before they launch it to scrub it off. Needs an acid wash too. Maybe I'll do that this weekend.

_________________
1981 Columbia 8.7
2015 Yamaha FZR - 87mph - sold
2006 Yamaha GP1300R - sold
2003 Chaparral 215 SSI - sold
2009 Stingray 195CS - sold
2000 Four Winns H180 - sold
1976 O'day Daysailer II - sold
Rick's Four Winns H180 Mods/Upgrade Thread

Luckily, our marina has lift staff working from 8 am to 8 pm every day. We have two young kids (3 & 6) so we are always in before they leave for the night. If for some reason we are out later, they would pull our boat first thing the next morning. So our situation is a little different than yours. If my boat was in the water for "10-12 days" and/or overnight on a regular basis, bottom paint wouldn't be a bad thing.

_________________
NEW - 2000 Cobalt 246 w/454 Magnum 385HP | SOLD - 2000 FW Horizon 180 LS w/5.0Gi 250HP Volvo Penta