Sand blasted the bottom

[Teasers]

I have a 1996 28' with a tower and the Cummins 6BTA's (315 h.p.). I bought it in March, 2005. I sand blasted the bottom last month and found some blisters. After grinding them out, filling with cloth and West System, faring and sanding smooth, I coated the bottom with 2 coats of Interlux 2000. Then I put on 3 coats of Pettit Ultima Pro.

I splashed her last Friday and took her for a test run. I couldn't happier with the performance. When I bought the boat we brought her up to Virginia Beach from Beaufort, N.C. in March, 05. The weather and the water were cold which should have helped the diesels' performance. Here are the results of before and after the bottom work.

2005 RPM's 2200 24 knots RPM's 2300 26 knots
2006 RPM's 2200 26 knots RPM's 2300 28 knots

The water temp was 74 degrees when we ran her last Friday. I think I would have picked up another knot if the water and air had been cold like it was in March, 2005.

I was surprised to find the blisters. It was interesting that most of them were on the starboard side, very few on the port side. Also, the travel lift scale showed that the boat weighed 13,000 pounds with a full tank of fuel, 2,000 less than the literature states.

We're taking her out to the Norfolk Canyon tomorrow. I'm anxious to see what the fuel burn will be with the new bottom.

Keith

[spoolsout]

Keith,

That's great news. We have a 95 gas 28. Motors are being rebuilt, hopefully complete next week. We took our bottom down by hand and put on 3 coats of 2000 and 2 coats of CSC. We had some blisters but they were all on the transom. We had did not have anyon the hull. I am very encouraged by the performance increase you got. Now if I can ever get this guy to finish the motors I'll be able to see what we get. Thanks for posting.. Chuck