Painting hull and/or mast

I would like to hear the experience of anyone who has had his or her spars or hull painted professionally. I plan to have my spars Awlgripped (they are white Kenyon powder coated) this Winter not only for cosmetic reasons, but to stop corrosion around the fittings. However, I have never owned an Awlgripped boat and am wondering about the perceived cost vs. benefit. The boat is 16 years old and looks good when polished in the Spring but loses that gleam just about now. Also, my wife wants the hull changed to navy blue, but that doesn't seem very "Ericson" to me. (Of course, all this depends on my winning the lottery first.)

Navy Blue is Great!

There was an E35-3 out here in Puget Sound that painted his hull navy blue, and his mast white - looked really sharp!

//sse

Does look good (but I think it's a 38). I seem to recall that Pacific Seacraft produced colored Ericson hulls (like their own line of boats). Another concern I have is that a dark hull will get hot here in the NY/CT area.

Nope - That's a 35-3!

That's the 35-3 "Azgard" (an 87' I think...) - owned by Lehman (sp?) - who's a member of NW Ericsons out here..... His hull was painted a couple of years ago.....

I can send you some closeups his boat if your wife would like see them.... Oh, and heat is not a problem up here - the high today was 72 degrees!

//sse

"Azgard"? I guess the owner is a big fan of the Stargate SG-1 TV series. However, I don't recall that the Azgards painted their space ships blue (although their skin is kind of blue).

I don't know about that - but he's a real nice guy (the CEO of LeCie, no less!), and he and his wife spend a great deal of time sailing her out of Olympia.....

//sse

I was very happy with my awlgrip.

Two years ago, we had our E29 topside painted with AWLGRIP. The result is fantastic, the boat looks new and the paint is extremely tough. A couple of poor dockings and there is zero damage to the finish.

In the SF bay area, the cost was generally around $ 100 per foot. We had ours done at Mariners boat yard in alameda, they offered to do the awlgrip and a bottom job for 3k out the door, they needed a job that size to fill thier schedule. The work was outstanding. They detected a small flaw in the way the paint was adhering, I couldn't see it. At their own expense, with out me asking, they sanded it down and did it again. You can't ask for better integrity than that. FYI - the problem on the first coat was that they used the wrong primer for condition of my glass. Also, it's my understanding that U.S. paints flew one of thier inspecters up from San Diego to see what the problem was.

I'll see if I can post a digital photo with the results. Good luck.