SeaHawk Bottom Paint - **CKS!

[sailorboy1]

knew I could count on you

[sailorboy1]

110% hull growth coverage that was 1” thick today in a month. Sure glad to used that Seahawk paint

[Leo Ticheli]

Originally Posted by mark0978

TBT Paint can also be had in Cayman, which might account for the staggering loss of reef fish around the Island. Sad really, remembering what that reef used to look like in the 80's and 90's.

Had I known about this violation, I would not have bought SeaHawk paint.

My diver's report after one month says mild hard and soft growth but paint in excellent condition. I hope I fare better than Sailor Boy.

Fair winds,
Leo

[Capt.Tom]

Originally Posted by Exile

What's rather odd about this thread is that, despite many worthwhile suggestions about why SailorBoy's bottom paint may not be working, none of them apply to the stated facts of his particular case. We're talking about brand new paint over time periods of 10 days to 2.5 weeks (if I'm not mistaken) before hard growth is appearing. The same pattern is being repeated in different areas along the US SE coast. SB is an experienced DIY'er who sought out & received approvals from the mfg. for his application process. AFAIK there are no claims of problems with the new paint adhering.

In my own 11 years of boat ownership, I've used different brands of both hard paints & ablatives, had it applied by yards and done it myself, sailed and had the boat docked for extended periods in many different areas along the US e. coast, and never had hard growth in such short periods of time. Has anybody else? If not, and imo, there are too many other more consistently performing paints out there not to cross Seahawk off the list if they are unwilling to provide some recourse.

I've put several bottom paints on my '86 Hunter 40. In Long island sound to Rhode Island and Block island I sailed mainly for 20 years and never have I had a bottom paint perform so badly... I mostly used what ever was cheap and they all worked fairly well. The test was when one year I forgot to paint my depth sounder transducer... after a month away the sounder was erratic.... I dove on the boat to inspect and found several 6 foot long strands of muscles hanging from the transducer but barely anything on the hull....
Use the cheap ablative stuff.

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

...

Cukote can be boosted with a pint of BioCop per gal of Cukote. That leaves a lot of BioCop left over and this was applied over the Cukote. Seahawk approved this to me.

The barnacles are growing right on the final coat of BioCop, which is their top paint.

You said everything here.

You have a BioCop paint job that isn't working. Maybe if it wears down to your mixed paint it will actually start working.

Is BioCop a good top coat for your area? It appears not.

Was this your intention to have BioCop as your paint?

Is it recommended in your area?

[sailorboy1]

Seahawk said that BioCop was the their best paint for my area. It suppose to be their top performing paint.

It Sucks!

[sailorboy1]

Seahawk said that BioCop was the their best paint for my area. It suppose to be their top performing paint.

It Sucks!

[OldMan]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Seahawk said that BioCop was the their best paint for my area. It suppose to be their top performing paint.

It Sucks!

30 months with Biocop TF in south Florida, works fine, better than Micron! But I didn't dilute it.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by OldMan

30 months with Biocop TF in south Florida, works fine, better than Micron! But I didn't dilute it.

I didn't dilute the BioCop either on the coat that that the growth LOVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now there have been a few posts from those that say the BioCop works and those that say it doesn't. Suggests to me that whether you get a can that has the proper mix in it or one that doesn't is just chance. That is enough reason to NOT get a $300/gal of paint with the hope that is has or hasn't had the biocide added to it.

[OldMan]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I didn't dilute the BioCop either on the coat that that the growth LOVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So now there have been a few posts from those that say the BioCop works and those that say it doesn't. Suggests to me that whether you get a can that has the proper mix in it or one that doesn't is just chance. That is enough reason to NOT get a $300/gal of paint with the hope that is has or hasn't had the biocide added to it.

It's absolutely possible you got bad paint.


The diver was here today, we chatted about your issue. He claims that certain times of the year, he mentioned the last month or so when water warms up quickly, no paint will prevent barnacles or growth. He stated the value of good paint comes from how easy the barnacles/growth comes off. He cleans 150-180 boats a month and been doing it in south Florida for 10 years.

[sailorboy1]

maybe

but 2 year old CSC paint did better than 2 month old Seahawk paint in the same waters

I'm happy if other Seahawk paint users are getting good results. But that means nothing to me. It sound your old paint is doing better than my new paint in basically the same waters! Explain that away (not being combative just trying to express my point)

[OldMan]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

maybe

but 2 year old CSC paint did better than 2 month old Seahawk paint in the same waters

I'm happy if other Seahawk paint users are getting good results. But that means nothing to me. It sound your old paint is doing better than my new paint in basically the same waters! Explain that away (not being combative just trying to express my point)

It's not clear to me what your expectations are. Bottom paint does not (totally) prevent growth. If it did, bottom cleaning divers would be out of business. The amount and type of growth varies based on location, water temp, time of year, etc. Per my diver, in south Florida, there is a period of time during the year that barnacles will attach to bottom paint. Bottom paints enables the growth to be removed easily. Since my boat is cleaned monthly, i.e. what does grow gets removed, the value I want from bottom paint comes from how long it lasts. With Micron, paint was gone from the waterline in 15-18 months. With Seahawk, I'm 30 months into it and it looks like I'll get at least 36 months.


A friend swears by his Sonihull, no barnacles.

[Exile]

Originally Posted by OldMan

It's not clear to me what your expectations are. Bottom paint does not (totally) prevent growth. If it did, bottom cleaning divers would be out of business. The amount and type of growth varies based on location, water temp, time of year, etc. Per my diver, in south Florida, there is a period of time during the year that barnacles will attach to bottom paint. Bottom paints enables the growth to be removed easily. Since my boat is cleaned monthly, i.e. what does grow gets removed, the value I want from bottom paint comes from how long it lasts. With Micron, paint was gone from the waterline in 15-18 months. With Seahawk, I'm 30 months into it and it looks like I'll get at least 36 months.


A friend swears by his Sonihull, no barnacles.

All valid points generally speaking, but they have little to do with the rapid growth Sailorboy has been describing from the beginning of the thread. The fact that you and others are reporting much more favorable performance in similar waters suggests a defect or other problem with the actual paint SB purchased and applied, and perhaps not necessarily all Seahawk paint of this particular type. All the more reason, in my mind anyway, for Seahawk to offer some recourse since SB will likely be forced to do another haul out long before it would otherwise become necessary.

[sailorboy1]

So it has now been 5 months since I applied this SeaHawk paint that is "guaranteed to not have hard growth for 1 year". As I stated at the start of this thread mine started having growth pretty much right at the start. I since found out that guarantee only applies if you had a "certified" yard apply it and clean your hull monthly. So you think "yeah" if I clean the hull every month the paint shouldn't have hard growth on it at the end on the year. Well don't count on that.

Some said "But SB you are in a serious growth problem region and shouldn't expect the paint to work". Well let me tell you; I cleaned the hull in high growth Sarasota Fl and then spent the next month in low growth brackish water in a river in Carrabelle Fl. At the end of the month you guessed it, hard growth!!!!

The only plus to this top of the line Seahawk paint is that the hard growth is fairly easy to scrape off. This is good, because you are going to do that a lot.

[MarkSF]

Next time I would suggest talking to other people in the area about what works best. What was the rationale behind using the Seahawk?


The CuKote is 47.5% copper. BioCop TF is 38% copper. So what you did is coat a paint with 47.5% copper, with an outer layer that is 38% copper.



I think most readers of this thread will come to their own conclusions about what the cause of your problems is.