Do i need my boat bottom painted?

[Trophy19cc]

I will be docking my fiberglass boat in a canal for a month in OC. I will pull it out and clean it with Star Bright and pressure washing it at the car wash. I will do this three times a year. I would prefer not to paint the bottom. Will this cleaning procedure keep the Barnacles away?

[DWinter]

It likely will develope some barnacles. We have our bottom cleaned by a diver monthly and still at the end of the season there are a few barnacles around the unpainted/unprotected areas. And that boat also gets painted every season.

I'm not sure how the fouling in OC compares to Long Creek in Va Beach, but I'd recommend no more that 2 weeks in the heat of the summer before pulling and spraying it off.

[Trophy19cc]

DWinter

Thanks for the reply.
Since the initial post I decided to get the bottom painted.

[gunsmoke]

PAINT IT .. And if you have a inboard\ outdrive system well that brings up a whole other set of sitting in the water nightmares. If your a outboard man than you can trim it out of the water were marine life can't get to it or inside of it and feast.