People don’t always appreciate what I mean when I tell them the C-Dory has a flat bottom. Maybe this will help.
See, it’s actually flat, starting only about a third of the way aft from the bow. That’s why Two Lucky Fish planes so easily at 12 knots or so, but it’s also why she pounds so hard in a 2-foot chop.
Anyhoo, the fine folks at Seaview East Boatyard in Ballard have done a great job. The old antifouling bottom paint was applied four years ago, and the boat has been in saltwater for almost all of that time. It was definitely time for new paint.
I mentioned the trim tabs earlier, but take a look at the paint on the transom. Black = paint. White = gelcoat where the paint has ablated away completely. The pressure-washing certainly removed a bit more paint, but even so: This paint was done!
It’s tough to get good pictures of the bottom, because it’s mostly a dark surface in shadow. But this gives you an idea what it looked liked, after the pressure-washing. This is taken from beneath the bow, port-side, looking aft. The really nasty scrape and its twin on the starboard side are where the hull makes contact with the trailer bunks when retrieving on a ramp. I’m going to radius the bunks and add some slippery synthetic surface in hopes of mitigating this. (I’m open to suggestions about this, by the way.)
But beyond the scrapes, look at the rest; what a mess. No, it’s not nearly as bad as some boats you see tied up at marinas, but nevertheless, this is just…ugly.
But Not Anymore.
Finally, can you guess which of these through-hulls requires attention? Once the boat is sitting on the trailer at home, bugging the hell out of my neighbors, I’ll get started on this.
6 responses so far ↓
Joe Filoseta // Nov 21, 2008 at 7:08 am
Question: it looks like you used a white bottom paint. Can you tell me what you used and why you choose white? Many thanks. Joe
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Tim Flanagan, Managing Editor // Dec 16, 2008 at 3:02 pm
That’s Pettit Vivid, which was recommended by the folks at Seaview Boatyard. They paint a lot of boats in the region, so I trust their judgement.
I selected white just ’cause it would be different from the old black, but it turns out it takes more than one coat to cover over old dark paint, naturally. You Have Been Warned!
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Rathna // Jan 27, 2009 at 1:41 am
Pictures of the bottom is a rare photograph as I have ever seen.I think your doing a great job in maintance.Do gelcoat have longer life than black?
Dave Gallus // Mar 20, 2009 at 12:34 am
Hi Tim,
Beautiful boat; you take good care of her.
I have a 28 foot S-2 sailboat and am in the market for a stove and heater. To my surprise Wallas makes them both, in one unit no less. And the unit runs on diesel, not dangerous propane. I noticed in your article that you have one.But I never heard of Wallas. Before I sink a lot of money into their unit I wanted to get an unbiased opinion. Do they give enough heat, do they draw much electricity, and for my wife; do they stink? Would you buy another one or is there a better product that you know of.
Thanks and good boating,
Dave
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