Cruisers who do not bottom paint

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by bobconnie

Almost all bottom paints work well when ya are cruiseing! never get much of anything on a 1500 or 2000 mile trip! but as soon as ya Stop ya need to start scubin again LOL if we could keep on sailing I wonder how long todays bottom paint would really last ??? ( Its late for me LOL and my mind wonders ) Just wondering ! any excuse for makeing Long sails !!

If you keep moving, yes. If you stop and stay 2, 3 ...5 weeks...like I do..... you now have a coral reef for a bottom!

[Kettlewell]

It would never work unless you were constantly on the move and didn't spend any time at anchor. In SC at a dock propellors would become so encrusted with barnacles and weed within a month the boat couldn't move under its own power--the propellor was just a ball of crud. Even with antifouling paint I have grown a substantial crop of big barnacles the last few years--beginning to wonder if I have to switch from Petit Hydrocoat--doesn't seem to work well anymore. After a few weeks in Cartagena harbor my old bottom paint (about a year old) had allowed stuff to grow on the hull inches thick. My thinking is that you need to haul once a year anyway to check everything out, change zincs, repair stuff, so you might as well antifoul at the same time.

[Panope]

Adding to my post above: After those 10 weeks, my unpainted bronze propeller had nothing growing on it. Clean as whistle.

Steve

[Cheechako]

Yeah, Puget Sound is pretty forgiving generally compared with the south. I used to go 2 years with Woolsey Neptune and really not much on the boat when hauled... except the grass/slime issue.

[barnakiel]

Our boat was virtually paint-less for about a year or so. She was in the marina. I had to dive once a month to remove the growth. It was about 1/2'' thick every time. No way we could then take the boat out sailing.

This can be done only if the water is clean and if your marina allows you to dive about your boat. Most do not.

b.

[perchance]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

And you make this observation based on what? Not only have I never heard of this phenomenon before, I have certainly never found it to be true.

Perhaps he's thinking (dissimilar metals+electrolyte= galvanic couple). Whether this has any effect on the zincs I couldn't say.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by perchance

Perhaps he's thinking (dissimilar metals+electrolyte= galvanic couple). Whether this has any effect on the zincs I couldn't say.

Don't know how there could be any significant galvanic corrosion going on. The zincs would not be in direct electrical contact with the paint.

[perchance]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Don't know how there could be any significant galvanic corrosion going on. The zincs would not be in direct electrical contact with the paint.

As per Mercury Marines directive, if you apply anti foul within 2 inches of the drive you will get corrosion. As a diver I'm thinking you have seen zincs overpainted with anti foul among other strange things.
As a caveat to the above; i don't know if the 2 inch rule applies universally.

[foolishsailor]

As the owner of an aluminium boat I would love to hear of an alternative to bottom paint. Even if it meant diving on the boat once a week.

But there is none I know of. Having a metal hull I won't get damage from aggressive growth but getting the bastards off especially those fecking goose necked bastards you get on passage in the South Pacific....aghhh. Like a previous poster mentioned they get attached above the boot stripe so you can get a feel for what it is like to remove a barnacle form your hull material...

...by the way to keep them off we used the old trick of toeing a line from the bow to the stern on port and starboard so that it lays on the surface of the water. The wave action moves it up and down the hull and it keeps the buggers off, even if used only a couple of hours a day while on passage in warm waters...

[capttman]

Yup I paint every 5 years when I haul whether I need to or not

[ArtM]

Originally Posted by foolishsailor

As the owner of an aluminium boat I would love to hear of an alternative to bottom paint. Even if it meant diving on the boat once a week.

So aluminum is not a deterrent to them? Only copper?

I wonder if there is some way of copper-plating your hull - or will they stick to copper too? My understanding is that they can't adhere to copper.

I'm thinking of some sort of powder coating, electroplating, whatever to get a permanent copper coating onto your aluminum hulls... possible? Cost effective?

I was also wondering if there is some way to use an electric current on aluminum hulls to prevent or remove the stuff.

[ArtM]

Originally Posted by capttman

Yup I paint every 5 years when I haul whether I need to or not

You bottom coat only once every 5 years? What product are you using? How effective is it?

[foolishsailor]

Copper + aluminium = boat on bottom of the sea

[Astrid]

Copper + aluminium = boat on bottom of the sea

Exactly. One needs to use a bottom paint that is copper-free--something like Trilux.

I was also wondering if there is some way to use an electric current on aluminum hulls to prevent or remove the stuff.

No! Electrical current will not only increase the deterioration of your sacrificial anodes, but shorten the life of the zincs on vessels near you. Furthermore, it would be a source of stray current in a marina which might actually be dangerous.

[Kettlewell]

Just by the way, I have never met a cruiser who doesn't bottom paint. None of the supposedly permanent systems seem to work very well. In tropical waters growth would require at least weekly scrubbing if you weren't moving, and even then you would get barnacles. I have had to scrape my chain free of crud after being anchored for a few days some places.