Going from fresh water to salt water on my boat required a new bottom. So I sanded down the bottom to glass taking off all the VC-17. Then I repaired any blisters I found and small defects let them cure then sanded them down. The next step was to paint the barrier coat. I used the Interlux 2000E barrier coat putting 5 coats on alternating color of gray and white. My next step was to put a Ablative bottom paint, I put two coats one red and the other blue. The final step was to have the boat put in the sling so I could sand and paint the areas the cradle pads covered. Then totals came out pretty close to this;

*60 plus hours of sanding
* 5 coats of barrier coat I paid $87.00 per gallon. I purchased 6 gallons which is what the chart recommended but I really only needed 5.
* 2 coats of Ablative bottom paint on sale for $109.00 per gallon one red the other blue. This amount really did 3 coats but I wanted a blue bottom so I did not use the left over red.
* one key tip from the yard manager was not to use regular paint rollers I used 9 thin film roller. I also used a new roller with every color change this put a very nice finish after painting so I did not have to sand much just paint.
* Another thing that was a major help was to have a vac system on the sander. If you dont the dust is very bad and actually gets back on the boat so the bottom doesnt look white it looks more like gray.

So the yard manager figured I saved between $4,500 and $6,000 and I sure know the bottom of my boat now. I also hope that I dont have to paint the bottom for a couple of years.

PS make sure you wear all the protective gear you read about you will be glad you did.