BOOT TOP

[Vitalba]

April`s CB on boat painting gives the Boot Top as 10per cent of the freeboard, say 3" in their case. I assume this is measured amidships where the sides are about vertical. However on a shallow counter stern of 30 degs. to the horizontal this would mean a width of 6" on the slope.
Is it normal to take the increased width due to the slope into account or or just make it the 3" all the way around ?
TeaMac make a Boot Top paint but in min. 1litre and with that qty I`ll still be painting Boot Tops in purgatory. Someone on the Forum recently mentioned a good household enamel which is same as Inernationl`s ? - but I cant find the reference, can any one help please? VITALBA

 

[Kilter]

Small tin of hard antifoul should do it

 

[Peterduck]

A boot topping should be painted with antifouling paint. Originally, it was black for the Grey Funnel Line, as they often visited harbours where there was an oily scum on the surface which spoil the ship's paintwork, which would never do. Under a counter you need to make the paint band much wider, so that it looks the same from a distance. Professional painters would sweep the boot topping up very slightly at both ends, with the curvature spread over the length of the waterline. If it were 3" wide at amidships, the it would gradually curve up to say 4" at the bow and 3.5" at the stern.
Peter.

 

[Romeo]

Try adding in the complication of a clinker hull. I find one thine wetween antifoul and topside paint more than enough to deal with.

 

[tobble]

definetly increase the width so the vertical depth is the same (or with a bit of sheer), it'll look odd otherwise! I suppose you could paint it the other way to see, and you can easily add the 'sheer' when (not if) you find it doesn't look good!

you can measure it out with a T shaped bit of wood; drill a hole through one end of one 'branch' to fit a pencil. then go round with tip of stem of T on the water line, and shift pencil in and out to take account of the hull shape... the delux version has a spirit level with 90 deg offset on the bubble clamped to the 'branch'. Hope that makes sense...

Blakes make small tins (2 or 300 ml?) of hard antifoul specifically for this purpose. mine did 2 seasons anyway! Enamel has the advantage of being more scrubbable.