Bottom paint Stripe or recoat

I just bought a 30' searay

I just bought a 30' searay sedan bridge. It has been bottom painted many many times and the bottom is rough from layers chipping off and being repainted over the years. Is there any benefit of stripping it down and starting from scratch or is it a huge waste of time and money for a little gain in speed or economy? How it looks is not my concern as only the fish see it.

"Jeff
I have been doing bott

"Jeff
I have been doing bottom jobs on boats for over 40 yrs. Each owner kinda wants it his way. SOme see buildup want it all removed and done again, I get paid to do it so OK. SOme want a touch up, Ok. Things to remember.
1. If you touch a sander to bottom paint you need a full mask resperator, with cartridges for heavy metal. Anything you take off shouldn't go on the ground. It needs to be collected and disposed of properly. You should be wearing a tyvic suit cuffs taped. You don't want this on bare skin. The sander should be hooked to a vac unit, you can by these rigs.

2. You can corncob ( like sand blasting) or soda blast the paint off.

3. Me I scrap heavy parts on my 50 ft trawler, and any loose looking areas. Then touch up or one coat the bottom. Remember the more paint you put on the more you will have to remove some day. I let the water wear instead of me removing the entire paint job by force..

4. If this was a sailboat then you might go another way. If you have no stable paint on the hull then you might as well blast it. There may come a day when you have to remove it.
You will get many different takes on this subject, good luck."

Thanks Capt

Thanks Capt

I've often wondered about

I've often wondered about that myself--if those rough patches on the bottom hurt speed and economy. There must be someone out there who got the paint blasted off and repainted who can set us all straight?

I six pack to the first person to honestly respond.

Jeff