Boat Bottom Paint That Keeps Growth Off Your Hull

Cost to bottom paint a boat depends on hull length, how much old paint has to come off, and whether bare gelcoat or aluminum needs a barrier coat first. A boat getting a fresh coat over sound old paint costs less than one that needs stripping and priming.

Call (804) 682-3227 for a firm quote once your hull's condition can be seen at haul-out.

Boat bottom paint, also called antifouling paint, is a coating applied below the waterline that keeps barnacles, algae, and other marine growth off the hull. Without it, growth builds up within weeks in the Chesapeake Bay's warm months.

Growth on an unpainted hull adds drag, which slows the boat and burns more fuel, and it can also foul running gear.

Bottom paint is antifouling: a functional coating below the waterline, not meant to be seen, that gets reapplied on a schedule. Hull paint above the waterline, the glossy topside finish, is a completely different cosmetic product and process, called Awlgrip.

See our Awlgrip painting services if you're after the topside finish; this page covers what protects the hull underwater.

Yes, but pontoon tubes are aluminum, so they need a copper-free antifouling formulated for aluminum, not standard bottom paint. Standard copper-based antifouling causes galvanic corrosion on aluminum.

Norton Yachts is an authorized Bennington pontoon dealer and paints pontoon tubes with the correct aluminum-safe systems.

Aluminum hulls and pontoon tubes need a copper-free antifouling paint, usually applied over a barrier coat that isolates the aluminum from the paint above it.

Standard copper-based bottom paint should never go directly on aluminum, since it causes galvanic corrosion that eats away at the metal.

Antifouling paint releases a slow, steady dose of biocide at the paint surface, which keeps marine growth from attaching to the hull.

Bottom paint comes in two basic types: hard paint, sanded smooth each season, and ablative paint, which wears away gradually as the boat moves. Norton Yachts recommends the type that fits how you use your boat.

Most Chesapeake Bay boats need a fresh coat every one to two seasons, depending on paint type and how much time the boat spends in the water versus at the dock.

A boat that stays in the water all season needs paint more often than one hauled and stored for the winter.

Norton Yachts paints boat bottoms at our Deltaville, Virginia boatyard, on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Boat owners from Middlesex, Mathews, Gloucester, and Lancaster counties and the Northern Neck bring their boats here rather than a yard further from the Bay.

Bottom paint requires a haul, so it's done alongside our boat haul-out services with the same Travel Lift and crew.

Not always. If the existing paint is sound and compatible with the new coating, a fresh coat can often go directly over it. Paint that has failed, built up too thick, or is incompatible with the new system needs to be sanded or stripped first.

Our service team checks the existing paint at haul-out and tells you honestly whether stripping is needed.

Spring commissioning and fall haul-out are the two natural windows, since the boat is already out of the water for other work.

Painting in fall, ahead of winter storage, means the boat is ready to launch as soon as spring commissioning starts.

Norton Yachts applies Interlux antifouling systems, and our painting crew works on the same boats and hulls our service department services and repairs.

We're also an authorized Bennington pontoon dealer, which is why we carry the correct aluminum-safe systems for pontoon tubes.

A standard bottom paint job includes the haul and pressure wash, sanding or stripping old paint where needed, a barrier coat or primer on bare gelcoat or aluminum, the antifouling coats themselves, and a zinc anode inspection while the hull is already exposed.

Anything else the crew finds, like a cracked strut or a worn cutlass bearing, goes straight into our boat maintenance for repair.