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<DIV><SPAN class=975581520-04042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>I
contemplated having Bonito's bottom painted this year and Chris Maher,
who's opinion I value also stated that for racing, only a sprayed hard bottom
should be considered. He did talk me out of painting though; he convinced
me that even the best painted bottom won't be as fast as bare gel coat. I
understand another consideration to be, that hard bottom paint can
handle being out of the water so, if you do dry sail your boat and want a
painted bottom, this may be your only option.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=975581520-04042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=975581520-04042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2>Michael Andrews</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=975581520-04042007><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>811
Bonito</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Tahoma
size=2>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B> tuna-bounces@myfleet.org
[mailto:tuna-bounces@myfleet.org]<B>On Behalf Of </B>Pete
Trachy<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, April 04, 2007 12:11 PM<BR><B>To:</B> List
Satanna 22<BR><B>Subject:</B> [Santana 22] How To Wet Sail and Be
Fast<BR><BR></FONT></DIV>Summary: Ablative paints are SLOW. Get a
sprayed hard bottom. Your bottom is only as good as the prep work, spend an
afternoon fairing it with a 3M fairing board.<BR><BR>I think that there are a
few people in our fleet who have been unduly frustrated in their quest for
speed. Faired keels, new sails, and years spent sailing still leaves the
top of the fleet out of reach. I personally think that bottom work has
done more to take me from being consistently last in the fleet than anything
else, including new sails. <BR><BR>Many of the wet sailed boats, including
mine when I got it, have a traditional ablative bottom paint. This paint
is soft and rough. Even though I was cleaning my old ablative bottom
before races, it's cratered surface was never going to be fast. From
what I understand, this type of thing is very difficult to avoid with an
ablative bottom as the paint gradually flakes away. <BR><BR>A hard paint will
maintain a smooth surface over the life of the paint job and not flake off
like an ablative. You will also be able to to give it a light wet
sanding with 600 grit to make it super smooth before it leaves the yard.
<BR><BR>Steps:<BR><BR>1: Remove all of your old ablative bottom
paint. It will bleed through and screw up your new hard paint.
This is a must first step.<BR><BR>2: Your bottom is now down to gel
coat, spend a day or so going over it with a long board. If there are any
divets etc... Fill them with fairing compound and sand them
smooth. The end product is only going to be as good as the effort you
put into this step! <BR><BR>2.5: You may need a barrier coat. Talk
to your yard or paint manufacturer.<BR><BR>3: Pick a hard bottom paint
and get it sprayed on. Get it sprayed. Sprayed is smooth, sprayed
is faster.<BR><BR>4: Give your bottom a light sanding with 600 grit
after it has dried. Light, we don't want to take too much off.
<BR><BR>5: Clean your bottom before every race you care about doing well
in. And make sure your diver is treating it well. Pettit
vivid should only be cleaned with smooth carpet, I think I am going to
use a sponge this year. <BR><BR>Paints: I personally like Pettit Vivid
because it comes in white which is easy for me to clean. Michael Tosse
at Svendsen's recommended Proline 1088 with graphite mixed in. Kim
Desenberg at KKMI says they like Micron 66 which he thinks is harder than
vivid. I'm sure there are other solutions. The key is to get a
hard paint and prepare the bottom well. <BR><BR>Tools: 3M makes a great
fairing board. It made a huge difference when I was working on my
keel. I have one that you can borrow.<BR><BR>Don't let your yard push
you around into doing what is easiest for them. If you have questions
ask the list. <BR><BR>Finally, I want to point to the results at the last
Scombridae Sunday. Kevin McElroy and his brother Darren got 3rd of 8
boats in the after lunch racing. I know that Kevin only got the boat
last fall and just started sailing a year and half ago. This was the
first time he had raced the boat. He just got a sprayed Vivid bottom
(yellow as you may have noticed) and cleaned it that morning. Old sails,
no rockstar crew, just some hard work in the yard and a smart young man at the
helm. <BR><BR>I think that getting the right bottom on the wet sailed boats in
our fleet will make the racing tighter and more fun for everybody.
Clarifications, corrections, personal experience... let us
know.<BR><BR>Pete<BR></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>