Anitfouling Bottom Paint - Your Recommendations

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by C Skip R

We have used SeaHawk Islands 44 for a few years with superb results but it has to be purchased outside of the US.

As previously mentioned, it is banned for sale, use and application in the U.S. You should not be using it.

[HopCar]

"With either Micron 66 or Trinadad SR, you shouldn't need a diver for at least a year, maybe to clean the running gear."
Absolutely 100% true in South Florida. I would bet that those photos are not of Micron 66 or Pettit Trinidad SR. Most of that growth is slime. That paint is either a lot older than you have been told or the paint has no slime preventer in it. It might be regular Trinadad but it's not Trinadad SR. If it's that bad in your area, there is no reason to paint the bottom at all.

[Cheechako]

I've come to believe if your boat doesnt move much that almost any paint isnt much good. The one exception being the dutch "submarine paint" sold in Trinidad circa 10 years ago. My boat sat for sale for 1.5 years in So Florida, I had a diver down to clean the bottom prior to survey and he came up and told me "there's really nothing to do"! The pilings and bulkheads around the boat were covered with growth.
Sitting in harbors like Georgetown Bahamas or Luperon DR for 2-3 weeks and a relatively fresh bottom with Pettit Trinidad would be covered with growth. Sure, good bottom paint kills barnacles eventually, but they are already stuck to your boat by the time they die!

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by HopCar

"With either Micron 66 or Trinadad SR, you shouldn't need a diver for at least a year, maybe to clean the running gear."
Absolutely 100% true in South Florida.

So you're telling me that in one of the highest fouling regions in the country, you don't need to clean your hull for an entire year after splashing the boat? OK, I have never cleaned boat bottoms in South Florida, but I'd bet any money if I were to e-mail any of the many S. FLA hull cleaners I have contact info for, they would dispute that claim. It certainly isn't true in Northern California, where (I assume) our fouling conditions are not nearly as gnarly as yours.

Originally Posted by HopCar

I would bet that those photos are not of Micron 66 or Pettit Trinidad SR. Most of that growth is slime. That paint is either a lot older than you have been told or the paint has no slime preventer in it. It might be regular Trinadad but it's not Trinadad SR.

Sorry buddy, wrong on on every count.

Originally Posted by HopCar

If it's that bad in your area, there is no reason to paint the bottom at all.

If the fouling conditions are bad, you shouldn't use anti fouling paint?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Sure, good bottom paint kills barnacles eventually, but they are already stuck to your boat by the time they die!

That's not how anti fouling paint works, at least not any paint that's legal for use here. The cuprous oxide toxin in most anti fouling paints isn't available to higher fouling organisms (like barnacles) in a high enough dose to kill them. It works by making the paint "taste" bad to them, that's why they don't attach. If you have barnacles on your anti fouling paint, the paint isn't working.

[sdowney717]

I have been wondering about lithium grease on the bottom.
Supposed to not wash off with water, what if you smeared lithium grease on the
boat, a thin coating. If the lithium grease wont wash off I doubt a barnacle would think to stick to it.

The other idea is super hydrophobic coatings. These paints retain a layer of air against the hull, the hull never actually gets wet, so barnacles would not attach to air.

Superhydrophobic coating (2008 R&D 100 winner) - YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wt1Tf...eature=related

[colemj]

Our previous bottom paint was Micron 66. For the first year, cruising from Chesapeake Bay to Grenada, the bottom was clean as a whistle and needed no scrubbing or wiping. It needed wiping/scrubbing every month or so after that, and became ineffective at the end of two years.

I agree with HopCar that if the fouling is that bad, it is simpler to just hire a diver once/week than bother with bottom paint at all (or maybe just a single coat of a hard paint). Actually, I have been wondering why I put bottom paint on. Here in the SW Carib, we can hire a guy to clean a 40' catamaran bottom for $20-30. The cost for just the bottom paint itself is $1,200 and the haulout, paint supplies and any labor used is on top of that. I figure I could get 2-3 years of weekly bottom scrubbing for the cost of a 2 year paint job.

Mark

[fgd3]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

So you're telling me that in one of the highest fouling regions in the country, you don't need to clean your hull for an entire year after splashing the boat?

That certainly hasn't been my experience. No paint I've found will keep the bottom completely free of growth for a year. In fact, none will keep it free of growth for two months. I've had good luck with KL990 (a local brand from decades ago), Petit Trinidad, and West Marine CPP Plus. I'm using CPP Plus now. All of them do a good job of retarding bottom growth and the CPP Plus, perhaps because it's an ablative paint, seems to make it easier to scrape the barnacles off the hull.

I just finished cleaning the bottom for the first time in over a month. It had some barnacles, none bigger than 1/4 inch in diameter and lots of slime. Both came off easily. If I didn't have bottom paint the entire bottom surface would be solidly fouled with 1/4 barnacles in a week.

Fabbian

[Katiusha]

Originally Posted by heyniceguy

has anyone heard or tried the technique/magic-trick/myth of mixing cayenne pepper to your bottom paint to extend the duration of detering bottom critters?

Some fishermen up north suggested it to us. We've been adding cayene pepper to every repaint [1 jar pepper to 1 can paint]. It does work. You will still end up with stuff growing, but it will start growing much later and not as fast.

Just remember that the surface will be slightly bumpy, so if top speed is important, don't use it.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by colemj

I agree with HopCar that if the fouling is that bad, it is simpler to just hire a diver once/week than bother with bottom paint at all....

That's because you've never tried to clean a hull that had no anti fouling paint on it. Even with the moderate fouling conditions we experience here in the Bay Area, a bottom that has no paint soon becomes impossible to keep clean, even if dived frequently. Here are some pix of a J/120 in Alameda with no anti fouling paint on it. The boat had been in the water about a month:



Even after spending two hours using a brown scrubber and a metal scraper, I was unable to truly clean the boat.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Katiusha

Some fishermen up north suggested it to us. We've been adding cayene pepper to every repaint [1 jar pepper to 1 can paint]. It does work. You will still end up with stuff growing, but it will start growing much later and not as fast.

My experience is that adding pepper has no effect whatsoever. Further, if it did, everybody (including the paint manufacturers) would be doing it.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by sdowney717

I have been wondering about lithium grease on the bottom.
Supposed to not wash off with water, what if you smeared lithium grease on the
boat, a thin coating. If the lithium grease wont wash off I doubt a barnacle would think to stick to it.

The other idea is super hydrophobic coatings. These paints retain a layer of air against the hull, the hull never actually gets wet, so barnacles would not attach to air.

When they say it won't wash off with water, they mean easily. On a boat hull, it'll be gone in a day. Where will it go? Into the bay. Yes, what a wonderful thing that'll be for the marine environment, every plant and creature covered in Lithium grease.

[Dulcesuenos]

We painted last boat with the most expensive "West Marine " Gold brand with anti slime etc etc and the boat had barnacles in 2 months only a few but still after 3 coats it was very dissappointing. Our new cat we spent an EXTRA $120 a gal on Ultima SR Pro, We have Zero slime, no growth nadda after 4 months. Well worth it. I will add that I got one small drop of green on my hand after removing gloves. I used thinner to remove it it spread so much it covered my entire hand and half my arm before I could get it all off. That stuff is nasty but effective!

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by MarkSF

When they say it won't wash off with water, they mean easily. On a boat hull, it'll be gone in a day.

I bet it would be slower'n hell too. Plus, I wonder how you could coat the hull and then launch without wiping off a lot of the grease or slipping out of the slings? In any event, there's nothing new under the sun. If any of these homespun remedies worked, we'd be seeing them used already. But we don't. There's a reason for that.

Originally Posted by MarkSF

Where will it go? Into the bay. Yes, what a wonderful thing that'll be for the marine environment, every plant and creature covered in Lithium grease.

This is the same arguement that I used when people started talking about coating their running gear with STP. Bad for the environment and in the long run, probably ineffective.

[C Skip R]

Originally Posted by HopCar

"With either Micron 66 or Trinadad SR, you shouldn't need a diver for at least a year, maybe to clean the running gear."
Absolutely 100% true in South Florida. I would bet that those photos are not of Micron 66 or Pettit Trinidad SR. Most of that growth is slime. That paint is either a lot older than you have been told or the paint has no slime preventer in it. It might be regular Trinadad but it's not Trinadad SR. If it's that bad in your area, there is no reason to paint the bottom at all.

HopCar not sure where you are getting your info but it's incorrect. I
had Micron 66 on my boat and during the summer I had to clean the bottom every 10 days and I live in Central Fl. Paint lasted about 1-1/2 yrs. Its okay but not as good as SeaHawk Islands 44 but unfortunately unless you go to the Bahamas and buy it, you cannot buy it in the US. Its made in St Pete, Fl. Buy it, bring it home and have a boatyard put it on. Going on 3 yrs. Still have bottom cleaned during summer every 3 weeks.