Marking the waterline

[JWomack]

Hi everyone,

I've decided to apply bottom paint this season, as the boat will be moored for about six months or so, off and on at a harbour and just off our shore. Last year it was moored for about 3 months just off a lee shore mostly, that gets plenty of wave action, so the boat stayed fairly clean.

She's never had bottom paint, so I'll have to mark the waterline now while trailered in the yard. Should I level the boat athwartship from gunwale to gunwale near the stern and along her keel aft?

I know the waterline at the stern is about 1 strake down from the splash rail, so I thought an easy way to mark the waterline was to use a water level (water in clear tube).

Should I paint above this line a bit with the bottom paint?

Thanks for any professional insight on this.

Jason

[Portside]

Jason- I have a couple of suggestions being I finished my waterline and bottom paint last year. I used Pettit's hard copper bronze with a 1 1/2" red stripe. More accurately, I did it the first time two years ago. I realized in trying to actually hit the waterline the boat did not look right sitting in the water. Particularly strange with any load aboard.
So I raised the bottom paint and red stripe up about 3" above the actual water line and it looks fine. A lot of work could have been avoided if I had only looked at some other boat waterlines while they were in the water.
I did the marking of the waterline knowing (pretty close) where the where it was on the transom and bow. I used a laser level and with the bow and stern locations it's a matter of adjusting boat so laser hits both points. Then marking it off with pencil at intervals and taping. I also used a taught string from bow point to stern point just standing off the hull. Then made marks to the hull using a carpenters level from the string to the hull.

Good luck!

[JWomack]

Thanks for the suggestion. I looked around at other boats this past week and you're right it looks good just above the actual waterline. Now sanding begins!

Jason

[Portside]

Yes, top of my red stripe is just below the splash rail at transom. I think the bow is more critical to be certain it's not too low near the actual waterline. If anything, I'd error on making the bow a wee bit higher than at the stern. Yeah, sanding.... and then there's that!

[LancerBoy]

Thompson never painted a "boot stripe" on their lapstrake boats at the factory. FYI

Andreas