Well, it sounds a bit more “interesting” than the reality.  It’s been 20 months since Charisma was hauled out and the bottom painted.  Last time I noted that the bottom paint had not been stripped in many years and was looking like it needed to be completely removed.  The problem was the price.  A certain boatyard in Alameda that starts with an “S” quoted over $10K to do it.  They didn’t really want to do it and recommended; “go to Mexico and get it done there”.  Hmm.  When I hauled this time at KKMI (a great boatyard) they quoted substantially less to strip all the paint and put on two new epoxy coats and two anti-fouling coats.  They have a technique called soda-blasting.  High pressure baking soda.  Takes offthe paint, but not the gelcoat.  Less damage to the boat means less labor.                      While she was hauled I also spent a “fun” 8 hours polishing the topsides.  Lot of work, but she looks nice! Oh yeah, and as with most projects, there was a surprise.  I’ve had a problem with the raw water pump losing prime when idling for long periods at very low rpm.  The engine guy at KKMI told me he felt the pump was worn out.  “Take it out and show it to me and I’ll tell you”.  So out came the old pump and sure enough, the brass collar around the impeller was worn down and not compressing the blades far enough.  $900 later I had a new pump, which I installed.  Works great.  Lots more water pressure coming out the exhaust too.  The new paint job has resulted in almost a Knot of boat speed.  I guess the old paint which was peeling and not smooth anymore was slower than I thought!