Need recommendations for bottom paint for Sea Doo Sportster

[Scubadave16]

Hello. I have a 2005 Sea Doo Sportster that spends from May - October in fresh water in my marina in Lake Michigan. Looking at the hull today i see several dime to quarter sized blisters in the gel coat. When i push on them, a tiny bit of reddish water comes out. There is some hard water type scale on the hull, but no paint.

the marina water is reasonably clean, but i get a LOT of greenish crud which i have to scrub off at least every month during the summer. not sure if that is related or not.

The previous owner kept it on a trailer, but thats not an option, nor is getting a floating dock or boat lift. Obviously I am gonna have to fix the blisters (or do I?) probably have to grind out wet area and repair the gel coat. So after that is done I would think i would need to put on anti fouling or some sort of bottom paint. Not seeing much on this forum about bottom paint. Does anyone do it? I had my big boat painted a few years back, but noone wants to touch the stuff anymore.

 

[JPass]

If you're boat is staying in the water 24/7, then bottom paint to prevent blisters is the way to go.

Give this a read for recommendations: bottom paint

 

[Scubadave16]

So i got the boat out, dried off, and used Star Brite hull cleaner to get all the algae off. I am seeing a number of blisters. actually maybe in the high 50 -60 number. none larger than a dime and only a few are weeping red liquid. I can push on em, but they seem hard and solid. The question is what to do next? I checked a number of sites that talk about grinding out each blister and replacing the gel coat, but i wouldnt have much hull left. plus it would probably look like hell. I am pretty much resigned to having to paint the bottom (it will look slightly less crappy, but not what i want since the only paint I have is black). but the question is if it dries out and i paint over the tiny blisters what will happen? will it seal em up? I wonder why no one else (there are at least 20 other jet boats in the marina sitting in the water all year) has bottom paint or ever mentions blisters.
As i indicated, trailering or a floating dock,or lift isn't an option.

 

[JPass]

I'm not sure painting over the blisters is a good idea as you're only masking the problem and sealing in any trapped liquid. I would think a better solution would be to open them up, dry them out, and seal them up with some gelcoat and then bottom paint.

Definitely not an easy job, but it would be a more permanent fix then simply painting over them.

You'd have to determine if it's worth the expense to repair.

You could also just ignore them and enjoy the boat.

I have a buddy with an early 2000 Ski Nautique. His boat sits in the lake 24/7. His hull has so many blisters below the water line, it's not even funny. Aside from looking terrible, he hasn't had any issues with them opening or and delamination. The cost to repair far exceeds the value of his boat.

Post some pics of the blisters.

 

[Scubadave16]

Here are 2 pics of the blistering

 

[oliver305]

For bottom paint, we use TotalBoat. This paint also has excellent antifouling properties. I used it on my boat just a little over a week before fishing season then I looked underneath my boat mid-season. There were no traces of fouling whatsoever.

 

[Atom1234]

When I first bought my second speedster she had some blisters and I ignored it after a season of sitting in water and my son beating the hell out of it this is what happend . I tried to put a claim in with insurance they denied . Fix it ASAP or suffer , the water gets in hull and stays and when you get freezing temps it causes delamination. Luckily I found sister ship immaculate hull and sold this one to my friend . Good news is he is a body shop guy so he found this product now a lot of jetski and boat guys use to fix the holes and drys like the color of hull . You heat it and it Hardens . I’ll take pics later

 

[ab2475]

When I first bought my second speedster she had some blisters and I ignored it after a season of sitting in water and my son beating the hell out of it this is what happend . I tried to put a claim in with insurance they denied . Fix it ASAP or suffer , the water gets in hull and stays and when you get freezing temps it causes delamination. Luckily I found sister ship immaculate hull and sold this one to my friend . Good news is he is a body shop guy so he found this product now a lot of jetski and boat guys use to fix the holes and drys like the color of hull . You heat it and it Hardens . I’ll take pics later

Do you have the name of the product you mentioned?

 

[Atom1234]

This is the stuff