Recommendations for ablative paint

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

No diver likes having to work harder because their client is using a crappy bottom paint.

That’s only if you are on a monthly contract. If you are like us you only call a diver when you need to: bad paint means you need to call more often which means more money for the diver.

[kenbo]

Originally Posted by SeaSail

Hi, I've checked the posts and found some good discussions regarding SeaHawk Biocop TF and Micron 66. My boatyard here in Tampa Bay is recommending one of these for their standard bottom paint job: Pettit HRT, Blue Water AF45, or SeaHawk AF33. As these are lower cost paints per gallon than the two in prior posts, I would appreciate any thoughts on which of these three might be a good choice for a SW FL sailboat. Are the premium paints (e.g., Micron/Biocop) really worth the extra $? Thanks for your thoughts.

Based on the 3 paint you were given to choose from and assuming your
're painting a sailboat bottom I'd choose Blue Water AF45. It has the most copper and it's the softest of the three choices so better for ablating at sailboat speeds. Pettit HRT is reformulated (?) Unepoxy which is considered a hard paint and Seahawk AF33 is also a high speed ablative.

Blue Water is a good paint most of the commercial fishermen use it in my area. But remember, bottom paint has widely different results in different areas.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by billburr

Aqua-guard. Water-based, lasts 2 years.

Lasts two years where?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

That’s only if you are on a monthly contract. If you are like us you only call a diver when you need to: bad paint means you need to call more often which means more money for the diver.

How often are you having your bottom cleaned?

[skipgundlach]

two links and an apology for nothing more - I'm away from my computer:


http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ll-218697.html


http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ts-145677.html

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

How often are you having your bottom cleaned?

Depends, when we are moving every few days: never. When we stay somewhere for a month or more we call a diver right before we leave. If we stop for three weeks or so I try to look at the bottom, if the water is clean enough to see the stabilizers and decide. We have Detroits which need to be run up to speed every few days to keep from slobbering, if I can’t get up on plane I’ll have the hard growth scraped off. That’s what happened when we stopped in Stuart in a brackish cove (Whiticar) for two months and got a lot of barnacles which needed to be scraped so we had the whole bottom cleaned. We went from July to November without a diver, but we also were traveling from Stuart to St Michaels to JAX. When we hauled in Jax the bottom was clean as a whistle. The paint was showing the base in a few patches and on leading edge of rudders, so we had it recoated: one on bottom, two at waterline IIRC and the bare spots an extra coat first.
Had the bottom painted in November and now are in FLL, when we get to Bahamas next week I’ll dive the boat and see what it looks like. In 18 months we have had to call a diver three times IIRC. Once in Key West after 2+ months, once in Stuart as mentioned and once somewhere else, I cannot recall where.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

Depends...

You just got done telling me that divers enjoy cleaning your crappy bottom paint because they get to do it more frequently than once a month. Well, that's clearly not the case. You aren't putting more money into anybody's pocket because you aren't having your hull cleaned more frequently. So again I say, "No diver enjoys cleaning a bottom that has lousy anti fouling paint on it."

[LouK]

You might want to check Practical Sailors website as they do long term test reviews of a broad range of paints.
Www.practical-sailor.com

[Woodland Hills]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

You just got done telling me that divers enjoy cleaning your crappy bottom paint because they get to do it more frequently than once a month. Well, that's clearly not the case. You aren't putting more money into anybody's pocket because you aren't having your hull cleaned more frequently. So again I say, "No diver enjoys cleaning a bottom that has lousy anti fouling paint on it."

Never said it was MY bottom paint. I’ve read a post either here or trawler forum by a diver who said that SeaHawk was a favorite of his due to how much work he got from it. I’m quite happy with my SeaGuard and it’s performance.
Divers do hate to clean heavily fouled bottoms, that’s why they charge more for them. They like the money though. I’ve never been quoted a price before the diver goes down and looks at the size of the job: more growth=more money. Never stayed anywhere long enough to have a flat rate contract......

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

Divers do hate to clean heavily fouled bottoms, that’s why they charge more for them. They like the money though.

Well, having earned my living cleaning boat bottoms for over 25 years, I feel qualified to tell you that no diver prefers the higher rate charged to clean a foul bottom over that charged to clean a well-maintained one.

[Woodland Hills]

Really? I’m surprised, is that because they make more doing two easy jobs instead of one big one? Not speaking of monthly contract work, but one time transient jobs. Gotta compare apples to apples......
I can’t imagine preferring to make less money, but I certainly see your point on a flat rate monthly contract.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Woodland Hills

Really? I’m surprised, is that because they make more doing two easy jobs instead of one big one?

Absolutely. Why would I prefer making $200 busting my ass when I could (in the same amount of time, or less) make $100 each cleaning two well-maintained, lightly fouled bottoms? Not to mention that I have other boats to do the same day I'm wearing myself out cleaning the crappy one. It's about working smarter, not harder.

[wannacat]

fstbttms- if those hard jobs are burning you out I suggest what I did in my own business the last 10 years before retiring, gave the tough work to the young whippersnappers to keep them busy while I did the easier stuff. As you age your supposed to get smarter and take work and life easier.
Back to bottom paints, I've had great success with Interlux Ultra. Reasonable price and lasts me 2 years in Lauderdale/Bahamas. We only use the boat for 3 months or so sailing the Bahamas, the rest of the time she sits in the brackish water of The New River with a good constant rinse under her keels. I do scrub her once a year myself while in The Bahamas.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by wannacat

fstbttms- if those hard jobs are burning you out I suggest what I did in my own business the last 10 years before retiring, gave the tough work to the young whippersnappers to keep them busy while I did the easier stuff. As you age your supposed to get smarter and take work and life easier.

You mean I should be giving the hard jobs to my staff of six divers instead of doing them myself? Gosh, why didn't I think of that?

[KBDick]

Check out Blue Water ablative paint which is online with free shipping. The copper content is 64% and has a slime fighter. I get over a year in the warm water in Miami. Very few barnacles and the slime does come off very easily with a 12inch wide scrapper which leaves the soft ablative on the hull not in the bay!
Very pleased with their paint at a reasonable cost. Worth checking them out. Practical Sailor ranked them very good.