Haulout lessons Learned

by Don Boyle

I have something to share that I hope you will find helpful.

BACKGROUND 
For 38 years I have owned salt water moored boats, and every three years they need to be hauled out and receive new bottom paint.  In addition, every year they require new zincs.  Fortunately, as a diver, I can change the zincs while the boat is in the water.

I think I’m a pretty knowledgeable boater.  Not because I’m smarter than the next guy, but because I have owned boats for over 60 years and made a lot of mistakes along the way and learned from them.  I’m also receptive to knew ideas.

My wife and I have owned Sosueme, a 45’ powerboat, for 23 years.  This year was its 7th haul out during our ownership.  And this year I have received an excellent tip and investigated something else, both of which I’d like to share, along with something I learned three years ago.

Here are some starting statistics from this year’s haul out.

Sand hull (after new tip) - 3 hours
Tape and paint waterline - 1 hour
Paint bottom  - 3 hours
Scrape both props, shafts, rudders, and 4 trim tabs, then paint. - 4 hours
Change zincs - 30 minutes
Ceramic seal hull sides - 2 hours

BOTTOM PAINT
I use Micron CS bottom paint. It’s not a bottom paint for a racing sailboat, but I like it because it is ablative, which means it wears off during use and doesn’t build up over the years.  Five years ago I had the accumulated paint (previous owners, and my misguided use of non- ablative paint) removed and a new coat of blue paint applied, followed by a second coat of black.  Why was the first coat blue? So I will know when the paint had ablated or been sanded to the lowest coat.

We hauled out at Van-Isle Marina for the first time this year. It is a spectacular facility for several reasons.  Firstly, they use a remote controlled trailer that lifts from below.  No more strap marks on our vinyl hull, and no horizontal pressure on the flared hull.  Secondly, we received the best hull power wash in 40 years, which greatly reduced my efforts to prepare the hull for new paint.  Thirdly, they have 15, 30 and 50 amp power and water outlets every 50’ around the yard.  The Marina restaurant is pretty good too. 

Once blocked, I started up my power sander with my preferred drywall screen instead of sandpaper.  I was pretty proud of that innovation.  I was quickly stopped because they don’t permit power sanding.  Instead they gave me a Doodle Bug pad on a swivel stick, and suggested that wet sanding with it was better than power dry sanding.  Oh boy, were they right! It was fabulous and greatly reduced the time to prepare the hull for new bottom paint. I’ll never go back to dry sanding.

Doodle Bug pads come in different colours.  I suspect the colours represent different coarseness.  The one I used was black and quite coarse.  For my purposes, the coarser the better.  With this pad I didn’t have to apply much pressure, which lightens the load.

Wet sanding with this pad was way way more effective than dry power sanding.  But Sosueme has ablative paint, so I can’t speak from experience for hard paint.  But I think the result will be better than dry sanding.

Why bother sanding?  Firstly, power washing never gets everything off the hull, and paint doesn’t adhere to the residue very well. Areas are often missed or not scoured enough with the pressure washer. Secondly, most paint specs require light sanding between coats of the same product and heavy sanding if you change products.  Sanding ensures better adhesion of the new paint.  Check your product spec sheet.

One year while racing on a friend’s boat I commented to the owner that the boat was unusually slow despite fresh bottom paint.  He investigated and found the new paint was peeling and the surface looked like fish scales.  The likely cause was a lack of  surface preparation prior to paint application.  And as you can likely imagine, it was a lot of work to remove the scaley paint and return the hull to a smooth surface.

As a final note, wet sanding is boat yard friendly, as there is no paint dust flying around and landing on other boats, or yours. The yard I used to use allowed dry sanding, and our boat was always filthy with the sanding dust from other boats. 

BARNACLES 
I spent four hours scraping and sanding the residue of barnacles off the props, rudders and trim tabs.  It’s hard work and is my least favourite job during a haul out.  So (a bit late I recognize) I Googled a product called Barnacle Buster. It professes to dissolved barnacles.  I watched a few videos online and it appears to successfully dissolve barnacle residue, but the videos do show that there was still some relatively minor spots left that required scraping or sanding.  But still, the results looked good enough to try. 

Barnacle Buster is expensive.  But I have learned that its primary ingredient is phosphoric acid, which is found in many other less expensive products.  Some of which are sold as a cement and metal prep.  Check the label to see if it contains phosphoric acid. I haven’t tried it yet. But I will at the next haul out.  From the videos I’ve seen, you spray it on full strength and leave it for 30 minutes, followed by a couple of more repeats.  You will know it’s working if the barnacle residue starts to fizz. The video results were good and it should save me 4 hours of scraping and sanding.  I Like that.

WAX OR CERAMIC SEALER
Five years ago we wrapped Sosueme’ s hull with vinyl. The vendor recommended that we apply Flitz Ceramic Sealer annually. It brings out the shine and has UV prohibitors. I use it in the spring and again in the fall.

Prior to the vinyl wrap I would buff and wax the hull.  It was a lot of work and the results were not long lasting. Now I no longer need to do either.   I didn’t keep a record of how long the buffing and waxing took before the vinyl, but it was extensive.  

The Flitz won’t replace the buffing of gelcoat, but Flitz sprays on like water and is spread just as easily.  Spray a working area, wipe with a cloth and immediately hand polish with a second dry cloth.  Two hours to do the hull sides of a 45 foot boat is pretty quick. 

I now use Flitz instead of wax on the topsides with good results.

BUFF OR WET SAND
About eight years ago I was buffing Sosueme in Point Roberts.  I was using an electric rotary sander with a terry cloth over the buffing head.  The buffer hit something that tore loose a piece of terry cloth that then wrapped itself around one of my fingers and plucked the end off at the knuckle.  A helicopter ride to Seattle and surgical repair cost $58,000.  Fortunately I had travel insurance to cover it.  Are you covered while in Point Roberts?

My wife, Heather, now prohibits me from using a buffer.  I thought that just using a buffing head without a terry cloth cover should suffice, but she probably knows best.

I no longer have to buff a vinyl hull, but there is still the gel coated topsides.  I have found that hand wet sanding the topsides with 10,000 grit sandpaper is much less strenuous, quicker and more effective than buffing.  But it must be wet. 
I spray the working area with a hose, but also carry a spray bottle of water to keep the working area wet. In areas that require more recovery, I use 4,000- 7,000 grit sandpaper and finish with 10,000 grit. 

I was reluctant at first, but if you think about it, buffing compounds are really just a paste with some grit added, whereas sandpaper is just paper with grit added. The bigger the grit the coarser the rub.  Coarse grit is used for cut polishing, and fine grit is used for that shiny finish. So why not use sandpaper with a super fine grit?  I suggest you start with a small isolated area at first to see if you like the results and boost your confidence before going further.

DO NOT use an electric sander! Keep in mind that what you are doing, whether buffing or wet sanding, is removing a bit of the gelcoat.  You don’t want to be too aggressive. Sosueme is 35 years old.  I wonder how many times I can sand the topsides before there is no gelcoat left. But so far so good.  A friend of mine with a boat of similar age hasn’t been as lucky.  In some areas his hired help has buffed away all the gelcoat.

SUMMARY

To summarize, try:

1. Wet sanding the bottom with a Doodle Bug pad before applying bottom paint.
2. Using Barnacle Buster or other products with phosphoric acid to remove barnacles.  
3. Using a ceramic sealer rather than wax.
4. Wet sanding gelcoat BY HAND with 10,000 grit sandpaper.​

​


​Donald S. Boyle 
778-234-0480

---