Bottom Paint For South Pacific

[timor-bound]

Our boat has little to no bottom paint left. I'm scraping it constantly and I'm ready to get a new one sprayed on in San Carlos in the next month or so.

Question is: We are leaving Mexico for the South Pacific next spring. Does anybody have any advice on bottom paint in the South Pacific? I've heard that some paints are specifically designed towards certain areas (ie Carribean, green water, ect). Does anybody have a brand that lasted particularly well in the SP? Hard or Ablative?

Thanks in advance,

Chris

[Ex-Calif]

Bottom paint is like religion...

I use Micron Extra in a very fertile environment. Micron 66 is too expensive for me. Tried Jotun and my experience is better with Micron Extra.

Used to get 10-12 months now get 12-16 months - the key is to do it before the crusty bastards can penetrate the anti-foul and attach to the hull. bi-weekly or at least monthly dives help as does sailing a lot.

Ablative is the way to go.

[Alii]

Go hard - Trinidad SR. We have been cruising in S and W Pacific for ... hmmm, almost 13 years now. Our first batch of Trinidad SR lasted 3 years; we are only now getting around to redo-ing batch #2, four years after it was applied. The bottom gets regular, vigorous scrubbing yet the paint keeps sticking and working. We hauled out 2 weeks ago -- bottom was so clean we didn't even bother power-washing.

The problem -- ya gotta get the paint in your hemisphere. Pettit's licensee in this part of the world, Altex Paints (AUS & NZ), can't manufacture or sell Trinidad due to a fussy regulatory problem. The only way to buy it in Oceania is to have the great luck of finding some that snuck out to a retailer before the regulatory embargo was imposed.

If Trinidad isn't available, I would go (am going) with Ultra.