Another option, depending on your personal level of finickyness, is to raise the bottom paint level as noted and then paint a boot stripe above it, using bottom paint for the boot stripe. That way you have protection well up the boat, plus a boot stripe, to boot, ha. Of course you also have to mask about 3 times, or have a really steady hand. Up to you whether it's worth all that. I just run the bottom paint on my big boat up higher.