www.iFourWinns.com

Just looking for some opinions and some direction. I need to apply bottom pair to my 2005 H230. There is no bottom paint on it yet and the water I leave it in is probably considered a high foul area ( housatonic river Milford ct. Mostly salt and brackish). I spoke with the Petit rep yesterday and he told me that I don't need a barrier coat. I just need their hydrocoat and a good etcher and sanding. Apply two coats of paint and I should have a few seasons out of it. I talked to other people and they say that barrier coat is a must and interlux micron extra is the best ablative. Now there is two conflicting options. I would love to get some more advice so I can get this boat season off right. Thanks.

I go between fresh and salt regularly.

When we got the new 318, I asked a bunch of folks about barrier coat. It's a great 'insurance' investment - but it is absolutely not needed on newer Four Winns hulls. Newer hulls already have barrier coat in the hull layup.

Going on season 3 - and expecting to not have to think about bottom paint until at least next year - if not season 5.

The most important is the prep work - your rep that you spoke with is absolutely correct about that.

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2008 318 Vista -SOLD, but I am still around!
All Night Long, Seattle WA

I have heard that blisters can be a problem with certain boats, but I can say my old 88 is bottom painted and it has no blisters, and it's left in salt water 6 months out of the year. I don't know if the previous owners may have barrier coated it but I doubt that. I'd e-mail Four Winns and ask what they think. The newer resins can be formulated to be more water resistant than those in the past.

And BTW, if your water is as salty as ours (other end of LI Sound) you will for sure need bottom paint if you leave it in for more than a week or so. Not only that, you need to properly paint the sterndrive, trim rams, trim hoses, etc. It's a major headache in this area, the anti fouling paints for aluminum do not work great here. It's enough to make me not get another I/O, sick of barnacles everywhere. Hoses, bellows, water intakes etc.

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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

So true Lou!!!

The wax needs to be removed from the bottom before painting. BUT, those chemicals are very harsh!! I use a 100 sand paper in my orbital sander. (use a respirator) I don't get to crazy, a 26' boat takes me about 45 min. I than use a hard bottom paint in BLACK. The next day I put a 2nd coat of ablative paint in blue. By using different color paints, you will know how fast it is wearing down. Than ever year I put one coat of the ablative. I have done this to 3 past boat with no real problems.

My dealer thought I was nuts to paint the boat on the trailer. But at 6400 lbs, I don't want to pull it off UNLESS I have to. Bottom paint dries very quirky, so at the end of the day I use a "come-a-long" and pull the boat off the trail about 6" to expose the bear spots were the roller were.

As Lou stated, the out-drive is a bear to keep clean. I have tired 3 different products and NONE of them are that great. This year I will try a 4th!!! If this STUFF really works, I will post it!!

I used to let the boat yard that does my bottom do the drive and I think they put a quick coat on it and thats good for like 1 month...
I am going to try brushing multiple coats of Trilux on it this year, I have heard that works better than the spray version, you need a thicker film to make it last.

The Coast Guard uses aluminum hull boats, I wonder what they use on them, I bet that since they are a gov't agency, they are allowed to use the tin based anti fouling paints that were outlawed, but worked great on aluminum.

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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 will take any info and advice. I bought the Pettit hydrocoat blue and the interlux primer and outdrive spray paint gray as to keep with the Volvo color. I also got the Pettit dewaxer and prep solvent. I will be inviting my mechanical friends over for the help. We will most likely DA the bottom and clean with the solvent then paint. My wife gave me a large honey dew list that I have been instructed needs to be completed before the boat gets worked on. I will post with the progress.

I did it. After dreading the job it is done. We started with da's found it wasn't working that well and tried palm sanders, 60 and 80 grit paper. It took about 2days to get the barnacle circles off. I prepped the bottom with the Pettit bottom prep and taped off the transducers mph pitot and outdrive. I put the recommended two coats of the Pettit hydrocoat on. Getting the tea line taped off was a bit of a chore but we got it. Painting took about three hours total. Now it's outdrive time. This is not going to be fun.

Congrats on getting it done! I don't want to hijack the thread, but I want to redo my own bottom paint as well. I'm not comfortable using a come along to pull the boat partially off the trailer, so I'd like to find someone to hoist or jack it up. The problem is no marina is willing to do that. Probably because it's too much of a liability to have someone working under a boat on their property, and even more probably because they can charge $1,300 to $1,500 to do it for me. Any thoughts on how I can accomplish this myself?

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2006 Vista 258
2007 Yukon Denali

I actually did mine in my yard. I got two stantions( like the ones at the marina) we lowered the front of the trailer and put the stands under the stern. I jacked the stands till the back of the boat raised off the trailer. Next I raised the trailer tongue up till the boat was completely off the bunks. I put some 6x6 railroad ties under the center just for safety. I also put some 2x4 betweenthe bunk an the boat in case it fell I could still get my fingers out. The boat was high enough to palm sand the bottom and sand by hand the area where the bunk would be. I never removed the trailer from under the boat. It worked pretty well. I also covered the trailer so I didn't get any paint on it.