ShanMan14, the 1st time a new hull is bottom painted is the most important IMO! The hull must be free of wax and should be roughed up just a little for better adhesion. Then a "Barrier Coat" should be applied, and then after that dries I would suggest a high quality "Hard" (NOT Ablative) bottom paint can be applied. I am not sure about the # of coats of either the barrier or final, but the dealer will know.
The key here IMHO is that you wind up with a good foundation for future bottom painting. In Year 2, I personally covered the "Hard" bottom paint on my hull with the ACT Ablative Bottom Paint with Iragol. That is a soft paint that wears off gradually as you use the boat. Since I already had the "Hard" paint under it from the prior season, the Ablative paint did a great job. When I pulled my boat for the season, I was amazed how clean it was compared to many others. Then each year after that, all I have to do is basically a "Touch Up" job and now this year in my 4th season with the boat, I put a fresh coat of the ACT Ablative, which should give me a couple of seasons with minimal maintenance.
I am sorry I can not remember how much it cost me the 1st time, but whatever it is, it is worth it to have it done right. You can do it yourself but it is a lot of work. After Yr. 1 it is a piece of cake to maintain it yourself for the cost of the paint, a brush, roller, and roller pan that you can just discard when you are done!
The only other piece of advice that I have learned since my own experience, and I wish I had thought about it, is to use 2 different colors. LEt me explain what I am talking about that a buddy just did:
His boat is trimmed out in Blue and he wanted his final coat of bottom paint to be Blue to match his hull accents. He painted the 1st Coat of "Hard Paint" with Black bottom paint, and then painted 2coats of the "Soft Ablative" paint over it after it was thoroughly dried, with a Blue color that matches his hull perfectly! I gotta tell you, it looks Great! The big benefit here is that as the Blue Ablative paint starts to wear, he can easily see where he needs touch up since the black will come through!
Hope this helps!
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