Stripping anti fouling

Hi,

Well the problem is the boat is 25 years old and the gel coat is clear below the water line, no idea why they thought that was a good idea but it is!? It needs some sort of finish on it so I was wondering whether a 2 pot paint system could work perhaps? The problem with just not antifouling is that in the solent during the summer even an antifouled boat will have growth by the end of a week long regatta and its a question of whether a good antifouled finish with less growth is better than a good paint finish with slightly more growth.

It certainly isnt pleasant! Finished the rudder now which is a start! Doing the keel and rudder first just to split the job up a bit.  Funny the crew seem so busy at this time of year... always around when theres sailing to be done!

The next question is what to replace it with?! The boat is being kept out of the water for this season  but in the past we have kept it on a marina berth. 

Anyone know of a really hard antifouling which can be properly smoothed? we have just slapped on the trilux in the past and you can never get it as smooth as I would like even with a week of sanding. Then after a week in the water it comes out rough again anyway....

If there arent any antifouls out there which stay smooth then are there any paint/special coatings which will stay smooth and keep the weed off for a week or two?

I have just started stripping the anti fouling off the quarter tonner using a gel style water based stripper.  It seems to be working well although it is taking some time.  Have attacked it with plenty of water which seems to speed up the process and various scrapers, scourers and brushes which all have different but noticable effects!