Moorings & Bottom paint??
 

Hello All,
I may have the opportunity to get a mooring on a fairly protected cover. I suppose I have lots of question about mooring (any tips welcome). But a big concern is leaving the boat in the water all season, and it's effects on the hull. The boat has been trailered for its 5yr life. Is the need for bottom paint necessary, and useful in protecting the hull and finish.
Boat's a 07 18' Glastron IO.
Any help would be great!
Thanks, Gary

Bottom paint
 

Mooring on the Lake doesn't hurt the bottom of your boat without bottom paint. Bottom paint is always used on boats moored in salt water to help cut down on the marine life growing on the bottom of the boat. Not so with fresh water. I used to scrub the bottom my boat with a big brush several times a summer just to get rid of the slime. This can be done right at your mooring, then take a short, fast ride to rinse it off.

The question of mooring hook-ups usually brings out a lot of answers. Some general suggestions are:

Use a heavy chain at the bottom end of the mooring system;
Use an oversized line between the chain and the boat;
Do not make the mooring ball part of the mooring system, use it only to hold up the mooring line
If you are to be away for a while, add extra line and even throw out an anchor
Arrange to have someone you trust check you boat while you are away

Enjoy the season.

My .02 cents for what it's worth

Nothing wrong with mooring your boat for the season, the more protected the spot the better it is for your sanity more so than anything else. If a storm comes up you don't want to be loosing sleep over if the boat is OK or not. Be sure if you are going to moor it to figure out the best way to attach the boat to the mooring. Ideally I'd want two connections to the mooring ball in the event one fails for whatever reason.

Anytime you leave something outside it's going to be weathered. Just the way it is. I would not put any bottom paint on your boat, if you were in salt water don't think you'd have a choice - for fresh water I don't think it's necessary. I would also say that I think it not only detracts esthetically but decreases the value of the boat to some degree. That said, build up of crap on the bottom is surely going to happen. If it were me considering this, I'd take the approach of pulling it out on a somewhat regular basis and scrub the buildup of the bottom. There is an acid wash you can get that does a really good job. Over time you may end up with a slight bit of permanent staining though. You want to make sure you have a good set of covers for the boat that drain water efficiently. You'll also want to make sure you have an automatic bilge pump because no cover is going to be 100% at keeping water out. You'll also want to keep an eye on your cathodic protection zinks on the stern drive or outboard motor. Those over time will deteriorate as they sacrifice themselves to avoid corrosion of your lower unit. I do think no matter what you do expect your covers and the boat gel coat to fade and take a bit of a beating being in the sun all day, the reflection of the water doesn't help. One thing that is worth mentioning is blistering of the hull. A big problem in the past, for boats that sit in the water over long periods of time, blisters in the gel coat form. I think that modern day materials and building techniques are such that this problem is greatly reduced but it still could happen. In the end it really comes down to how anal you are with your boat.

AGREE..NO bottom paint in Winni.

No one ever thinks of this untill the damage is done. I like a SHORT (straight up and down) pendant (The line that comes up from the mooring ball to the boat). Depends on the overhang of the bow of the boat. In "Contrary" conditions when the wind is opposite to the current....OR no wind at all..the mooring ball might want to come up under the bow an "BANG" on the boat. Not good.

Best solution: A SOFT (some kind of rubber, etc) mooring ball. Rig the pendant nearly straight up and down when at rest in no wind. :look: NB

PS: Some mooring balls have a "Pass Through" pipe in the center of the mooring ball so the chain can slide up and down at will. No shakles ON the ball. I would favor that arrangement. Keeps the ball always "Up and Down".

I moored my boat for four years at Samoset and for the last six years, it's slipped all season. No bottom paint is needed.

Every fall it needs a scrub with Slimey Grimey or On and Off. Theses are marine bottom cleaners, probably acid based. You spray or roller it on let it set for a few minutes and scrub it off. Rinse with water. This is done on shore after haulout. Takes two hours on a 35 foot boat. You can scrub mid season if the slime bothers you but I don't.

Samoset has big granite blocks for moorings and chain that travels through the middle of the ball to a shackle. We all had double mooring lines with a stainless bull snap on each end. Clip one end of each line to the shackle and one end to the bow eye. Two identical lines for redundancy.

Some say to use loops on the line to the bow cleats instead of the bull snaps to the bow eye, but this will let the line chafe on your boat. In a protected cove this may not be an issue. But Samoset is right on the Broads, constant wave and wake action and some huge waves.

Have fun!

No bottom paint needed.
 

All advice above are excellent! When I wax the bottom of my boat, I usually leave the residue on for the season. I think it helps.

Samoset is a tough spot for mooring. I am located on Terrace Hill Road. I have a cement block almost the size of a small refrigerator and it will move a few inches each year. I have a 2" chain to moor a 22' boat. Hitch the chain directly to the boat with with the mooring ball attached to the chain. The chain is about 7 times longer than the depth of the water. Make sure your bilge pump is automatic and is working when you shut off the battery switch. A little water weight can make a huge difference.

Thanks!
 

Thanks for all the very useful info, looks like I have lots more details to figure out with the mooring.
Gary

I have a boat in a slip in Salem Mass in the ocean as well as Winni. My ocean boat has bottom paint and is a necessity in the ocean. It's my understanding that bottom paint doesn't actually stop or prevent growth. It is actually sacrificial meaning stuff grows on it like barnacles etc. but the paint comes off easily (power washing etc) thus taking the barnacles with it. I don't put any bottom paint on my fresh water boats. It looks terrible, is very expensive and it can be difficult to cover the entire bottom. As others said I simply have it acid washed at the end of the season for $125 and it looks like new.

Good luck.

There are two types of anti fouling bottom paint for boats in salt water. Hard paint and Soft paint. Both paints KILL/Repel undesirable grouth and are equally effective. The soft paint sloughs away over the season and the paint layer gets thinner. Soft paint is less desirable for "Planing" power boats because the paint is more spongy and can slow the boat down.

I had soft paint on my sailboat for 25 years and I liked it because it went away during the season...leaving less paint for me to sand off the next spring. I always sanded the paint down to Gel Coat every spring prior to adding ONE coat of new paint. One coat was ONE Quart of copper paint for a 32 foot C&C fin keel sailboat.

Hard paints last longer (better for planing power boats because they don't "Wash" off as fast) ...but are much tougher to remove later..because they are Hard.

My experience has been..MOST...almost ALL.. people are LAZY..and just add another coat of paint every year. This results in multi layers (Hard or Soft) that become a Massive Sponge to slow the boat down. :look: That's just my experience...NB

Bottom paint can also stop some boats from blistering. Water can penetrate the gelcoat and separate the gelcoat from the fiberglass. You can look into this condition for piece of mind.

Where is your cove?
 

There are places on the lake with lots of water flow and wave action. Boats moored / slipped in those areas tend to stay much cleaner. Conversely we had a go fast before the "Breeze" in a totally protected Gilford marina. No water flow through that area. The bottom of my white Go Fast was BLACK in 3 weeks. So when we bought the "Breeze" we had it bottom painted to avoid a repeat of that.

The Breeze
Wave 'cuz we'll be wavin' back:D

bottom paint
 

I have two things with bottom paint. I had a 15' runabout that I used at the lake and on the ocean. I painted the bottom with coppertone and prior to cleaning up, I went into the house to grab a beer. My son at the time about 5 decided to protect the new 1974 Chevy Nova, with coppertone on the rear panel. He then decided it was not a good idea so he blamed the neighbors kid. World War.

I have a 16'6" Sea Sprite I bought it used at two years old. The last owner worked at Electric boat, He got some red lead paint and used that on the bottom. Nothing stuck to it. and the boat sat lower in the water. I went over sandbars at low tide trying to get rid of that. I finnally used a 8" sander with coarse paper. then painted the bottom with auto paint. Worked real well for over 8 years but once I did the bottom It never went in salt water again.