To all............I'm a new owner of an S2 7.9 more of that in a bit. I was saddened to hear of the loss of Alice Boston to her family and her sailing friends. Though I know none of the Boston family and only a few of the S2 7.9 folks I have empathy and sympathy having known and lost friends in our sailing community here in Melbourne FL. My prayers are with the Boston family.
I have become the new owner of hull 491, Magic, formerly owned by Joe Pawlowski. I'm going to put an anti-fouling bottom on it. I've gotten lot's of information about materials but need more info and advice. The boat currently has VC Performance Epoxy on it. I plan to put either VC Offshore or CopperCote on. Interlux tells me VC Performance Epoxy is not a barrier coat but didn't answer my question on whether a barrier coat could be put over the VC Performance Epoxy. Does anyone know if a barrier coat can be put over the VC Performance Epoxy or does the bottom have to be stripped? Does anyone have experience with CopperCote? I have heard also that hulls after 358 used a different resin in production that does not or is not prone to blisters. Any advice on bottom prep and coating is appreciated. Look forward to hearing from you all.
Jim Lacy
bottom job
Moderators: Tim Bosma, Tom Elsen
Re: bottom job
Hi Jim!
Welcome to the Class!
You are right, hulls after 358 used a modified expoxy resin that is less prone to blisters. We just acquired #457 and it had no blisters after setting the Chesapeake for 4 years! We will be sailing her in sweetwater, so we took the entire bottom coating off and then applied VC17m. We thought a barrier coat might be needed, but when we got the hull back to the gell coat, we found only a handfull of nicks that needed some filling. The Interlux website has a good paint compatability page that can help you decide which products you shoudl use.
Thanks,
Welcome to the Class!
You are right, hulls after 358 used a modified expoxy resin that is less prone to blisters. We just acquired #457 and it had no blisters after setting the Chesapeake for 4 years! We will be sailing her in sweetwater, so we took the entire bottom coating off and then applied VC17m. We thought a barrier coat might be needed, but when we got the hull back to the gell coat, we found only a handfull of nicks that needed some filling. The Interlux website has a good paint compatability page that can help you decide which products you shoudl use.
Thanks,
Re: bottom job
Jim, welcome aboard! 
Before you put too much in what Interlux or any other coatings manufacturer tells you, also realize that none of them guarantees ANY of there barrier coat products to work!!!!!
I did a complete gelcoat strip and barrier coat on a J-24 years back and used the WEST system. It blistered again even after allowing the bottom to air dry after stripping for months!
I restripped the boat at my own cost even though it wasn't my fault, let it dry for many months and used Interlux 2000/2001 after sealing the bottom with their recommended epoxy resin. It started to show small pin blisters again after a while. As a last resort I pulled the boat, sanded it smooth and let it dry for a whole spring/summer and then applied 3 coats of Performance Epoxy. That was at least 15 years ago and no more blisters!!!!!!!!!!!!
Even if they don't say that PE is a "barrier coat" it's still epoxy. The main thing is to NEVER put anything meant to seal a bottom over a damp bottom!!! Has the boat been sitting on the hard or in the water? If the former, it should be very dry and there would there would be no problem with using the Performance Epoxy over it before bottom painting as extra insurance. One thing though: The PE is very thin per coat as compared to a normal "barrier coating" so sanding it with the recommended 80# will remove a fair % of the coating. VC17M only requires sanding with 320# and then wiping down before painting, leaving more of the PE on the bottom.
Before you put too much in what Interlux or any other coatings manufacturer tells you, also realize that none of them guarantees ANY of there barrier coat products to work!!!!!
I did a complete gelcoat strip and barrier coat on a J-24 years back and used the WEST system. It blistered again even after allowing the bottom to air dry after stripping for months!
I restripped the boat at my own cost even though it wasn't my fault, let it dry for many months and used Interlux 2000/2001 after sealing the bottom with their recommended epoxy resin. It started to show small pin blisters again after a while. As a last resort I pulled the boat, sanded it smooth and let it dry for a whole spring/summer and then applied 3 coats of Performance Epoxy. That was at least 15 years ago and no more blisters!!!!!!!!!!!! Even if they don't say that PE is a "barrier coat" it's still epoxy. The main thing is to NEVER put anything meant to seal a bottom over a damp bottom!!!
Has the boat been sitting on the hard or in the water? If the former, it should be very dry and there would there would be no problem with using the Performance Epoxy over it before bottom painting as extra insurance. One thing though: The PE is very thin per coat as compared to a normal "barrier coating" so sanding it with the recommended 80# will remove a fair % of the coating. VC17M only requires sanding with 320# and then wiping down before painting, leaving more of the PE on the bottom.Re: bottom job
Thanks for the advice. I have some definitive answers from Interlux. A barrier coat can be put over the Performance Epoxy after cleaning and sanding but it looks to be unneccesary. We are going to keep the boat on a lift for the near future.
Re: bottom job
Interlux makes a special barrier coat that should have been applied under the VC 17. Moving to salt water, I sanded off the VC-17 (didn't take much) and have applied VC off-shore every 18-24 months since then. It's very hard and easy to keep clean although probably not the strongest anti-fouling paint you can buy.
Jim Kloss
s/v Ambivalence
S2 7.9 #8
Jim Kloss
s/v Ambivalence
S2 7.9 #8