Hard or Soft Bottom Paint

[C Skip R]

Originally Posted by colemj

Just to be clear, you cannot buy, or apply, this product in Florida. And it is illegal to have it on your bottom in the US.

Regarding the use of the tin booster (moral and legal issues aside), you are being duped. It is an 8oz bottle containing 40% tin. Only one 8oz jar can be added to one gallon. Doing the math, this provides an increase in tin concentration of 2.5% - giving an increase from the normal 10% to 12.5% (side note to those who haven't considered the facts around this paint - it is a majority normal copper-based paint with a small amount of tin added to it. It is not the tin-based paint of old that people rail against. Just a reality check - I'm not taking a moral or environmental position.).

If that extra 2.5% was really useful, don't you think they would have just made the paint that concentration? That little jar is very expensive - more expensive in tin terms than the paint itself. However, the marketing of it sucks people in daily.

Mark

Well if that's the case you shouldn't use it. Has worked well for me and we have many users here in FL.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by C Skip R

Well if that's the case you shouldn't use it. Has worked well for me and we have many users here in FL.

Not only is that illegal but morally and environmentally reprehensible. TBT is one of the most damaging poisons ever intentionally introduced into the environment. Shame on you for using it and advocating for it. If I was your hull cleaner and knew about it, it have the Coast Guard and EPA down on you like a ton of bricks.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Not only is that illegal but morally and environmentally reprehensible. TBT is one of the most damaging poisons ever intentionally introduced into the environment. Shame on you for using it and advocating for it. If I was your hull cleaner and knew about it, it have the Coast Guard and EPA down on you like a ton of bricks.

I'm with you on this one. It's also toxic to humans and can remain leeching into the Eco system for 30 years.

I doubt he's telling the truth about lots of boats using it in Florida.

[colemj]

Originally Posted by C Skip R

Well if that's the case you shouldn't use it. Has worked well for me and we have many users here in FL.

I don't think you comprehended what I wrote. You have no idea if it works well for you compared to just using I44 without adding it. While it may sound like you are significantly increasing the biocide of your paint by adding it (and paying 40% of the cost of another gallon of paint for a little 8oz bottle), you are being duped in thinking that it is increasing the effectiveness of the paint in practice. You would be better off just adding another coat of paint instead - the biocide would be practically the same concentration, and the lifetime would increase.

That tin booster is a marketing stunt that many people fall for because they don't think about it clearly.

Mark

[Boatyarddog]

Originally Posted by C Skip R

You are absolutely correct my mistake should have said tin. Great product and works well in I44.

Tin based bottom paint should NEVER be used in any application that is water bound.
ZERO USE.


Sent from SV Cloud Duster

[macconews]

Originally Posted by out42

Done two boats with coppercoat now - don't have to think about the bottom for another 8-10 years and wouldn't ever go back to paint. I have no affiliation with them

Did you bottom barrier coat the boats before you put coppercoat on?
How do you maintain the Coppercoat yearly?
Sounds like you have no regrets. What waters do your boats live in?
Thanks!!

[out42]

Originally Posted by macconews

Did you bottom barrier coat the boats before you put coppercoat on?
How do you maintain the Coppercoat yearly?
Sounds like you have no regrets. What waters do your boats live in?
Thanks!!

English channel which is a fairly weedy environment. Annually it needs just a very gentle rubover with fine grade (400) wet and dry paper but it only really needs that if part of the boat has sat on the mud. If that happens, the copper turns from oxide to sulphide (green to black, and completely out of my depth in chemistry here) which doesn't appear to be as effective. The black areas pick up barnacles while the green areas don't.
This is hardly a scientific treatise as you'll appreciate but for the two boats I have done, it's been great and I don't ever want to go back to A/F unless racing (weight).

There is no need for a barrier coat as far as I am aware provided you key the area properly before applying the coppercoat. Obviously if painting on to an unsound surface nothing will stick. The makers are also very insistent about not using acetone as a cleaner prior to coppercoating, and you have to put on the coats as their schedule and temperature guidance suggests.

Check with the makers for best advice but in my experience it has worked well.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by macconews

Did you bottom barrier coat the boats before you put coppercoat on?
How do you maintain the Coppercoat yearly?
Sounds like you have no regrets. What waters do your boats live in?
Thanks!!

You don't use a barrier coat, but you must remove any semblance of single pack paints and anti fouls. It will then go over any 2 pack epoxy primer. The instructions are to abrade the surface with 60-120 sand paper and then wash the surface with water. Then it's ready to go on. It advises under no circumstances use any Oil based cleaners such as acetone.