Petit Vivid White after 3 seasons, an update

I had a virgin bottom 3 years ago and boy do I miss it. It seemed almost like punishment knowing I had to paint both the bottom and the shiny black at the time, trim tabs however, the trade-off for being able to walk down a dock, get onto the boat and go is worth it. I only wished I could have afforded and had a lift put in, still, no complaining.

Back in June of 2007, I had to take the dewaxer and while my boat was on the bunk trailer in the driveway, with a 3M Respirator, the 4000 or 5000-where you don’t smell anything and flat on my back snaking under the boat and trailer, had to wipe the entire bottom down, making sure I used plenty of rags and did the whole bottom twice.

Then there was the skip-sand Petit primer as I did not want to sand.

I put one layer of Red Vivid so that it would act as my tracer coat so that whenever I see red, I know I need to touch up.

Afterwards, I put 3 coats of White.

At season 2 and 3, I had to touch up the sides and the bow. The sides as the staining is the strongest due to the sun and the bow from the water rushing against it and wearing the paint as was designed.

At the end of last season, I just powerwashed the bottom and didn’t scrub the bottom much as I was lazy. Here is the boat today;

I spent some time with Mary Kate ON/OFF to get the scumline stains off as well as the orange areas and here it is taped off as I had to raise the waterline about 3 inches. I had wiped the wax off the virgin gelcoat then scuffed the gelcoat with 150 grit, then another wipedown, ready for paint.

Finally, the finished product, for now.

I will be touching up my trim tabs as well as I need to hit some of the areas with a Tie Coat Primer so that the paint will adhere to the bare stainless steel, mostly the part that connects the tabs to the hull, then just touch up the spots where the paint has worn off.

I’m still thrilled with the Petit Vivid. I didn’t hit all the parts of the hull that were stained as as soon as the boat goes in the water I’ll get that staining anyway but anytime I trailer and want the hull white, just a quick, light brushing and all will be white again.

I also put new zincs on those Bennett trim tabs as after 3 seasons, they were due for sure.