bare bottom?

[RustyBoat]

Has anyone left the bottom without any paint before? Would it be any different than a bare aluminum bottom house boat? Other than the houseboat has a larger surface area in the water.

[jralbert]

This came up on the forum some years ago and, I admit, I can't recall the end result. I would suspect that some houseboats whose owners go bare bottom are in (very) fresh water and not moved very far or very fast. The algae would weigh them down even if corrosion is not an issue in those cases (paint isn't a preventive for galvanic trouble). Perhaps, if one's boat were on a lift, one can get away without anti-fouling treatment. But for the rest of us, the fuel penalty far outweighs the time and cost of painting.

[Fastjeff]

My boat would gain a hundred pounds of crap if I did that!

Agree; only in dead pure fresh water, and even then they gotta have 'issues'.

Jeff

[Rockit]

Jeff is right. I follow his scheme of power washing the bottom and applying Trilux 33. This keeps the bottom slick and the plastic boaters jealous.

Some people sit at the dock more than I do--my dad used to love to just hang out on his houseboat--and might not care so much about saving on fuel. So like so many things, it depends on what you want.

Joe