Bottom Paint in the Mud

[sailorboy1]

I actually thought the thread was semi jest.

I doubt the mud will do anything to the paint if it isn’t the soft single season ablative paint (and I know it isn’t)

I don’t see how soft mud will do anything to a semi hard copolymer paint.

[model 10]

Worms. There is a 38' IP down in Guatemala that was called "rotten bottom". I saw it hauled out and sure enough they have a rotten bottom. Big old rotten spots, like 8" in dia, 6 or 8 of them. Down near the bottom of the keel....

[Bill O]

Our boat sits in the mud during low tides in the winter and the hydrogen sulfide or something in the anaerobic mud kills the copper/antifouling properties in our hard bottom paint (Trinidad). Where the keel sits in the mud, we see barnacle growth there much quicker than any other place on the painted areas of the hull.


Bill O.

[a64pilot]

Fiberglass worms?

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Bill O

Our boat sits in the mud during low tides in the winter and the hydrogen sulfide or something in the anaerobic mud kills the copper/antifouling properties in our hard bottom paint (Trinidad). Where the keel sits in the mud, we see barnacle growth there much quicker than any other place on the painted areas of the hull.


Bill O.

That is what I was wondering, if the mud would affect the paint chemically somehow.
Just like some paints apparently become inactive if the boat is hauled for some time, I don’t know if it’s drying out that does it, or air somehow?

[Compass790]

Our boat is in a tidal marina & buries the keel about 300mm ( 1ft ) into the mud at low tide. This rubs the antifoul off so oysters & barnacles grow much faster in that portion of the keel. The mud it sits in sounds a bit firmer than your situation tho.

[roland stockham]

The mud is no problemand will quickly wash off when you sail again. Combinations of frsh/brackish/salt water and drying are very good at inhibiting growth. What I would be more concerned about is the cutlass bearing. Even soft much can be pretty abrasive so you might want to check the play when you leave.

[skipmac]

I was keeping my boat on a mooring at Green Cove Springs where it sat in the mud at low tide. Also a super soft soupy bottom. When I hauled last year there were random barnacles and a little bit of soft growth on the upper hull staeting about 18" from the bottom of the keel it was covered with barnacles.

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by stormalong

If you plowed through the mud you have already abraded the bottom paint off the bottom of the keel. I seem to do this after ever bottom job and the barnacle growth starts. Paint is Petit Trinidad SR. Plenty hard but the mud takes it right off.

Yep. Just hauled out in January and moved my boat to a deeper slip after noticing this kind of abrasion. I dive my boat and knew the keel had created a depression in the seabed during super low tide events, which don't happen that often. Even still, the mud (which is made of very fine silica glass) was doing a nice job scraping the bottom paint before it was time. I use a hard paint (Petit Trinidad SR).

[ausnp84]

I kept my ketch in a drying berth for a few years and found if anything, the mud lessened growth. Had a good coating of slime but never had any substantial barnacle growth.

Skip forward to the cat - it had one International ablative coat on it and sat in the mud for 9 months. Zero barnacles and the pressure wash at haul out revealed quite a bit of antifoul left.

For the next coating, I’m going to go with an ablative again (two coats) and will just dry it out on a beach and re-coat before setting off.

N

[qrazy88]

If your boat is rising and falling in soft mud twice a day, then it's likely your paint will suffer. I've attached a picture of the bulb of my keel what was "sanded" bare in six months of rising and falling with the tide into soft delta mud. My paint was hard, not ablative. The white circles are hard growth that occurred once i was back into saltwater.