What Is the Best Anti-Fouling Bottom Paint

[Snorkel]

Hi all, I realise that thisis a late thread but for the prop, I have been using PropSpeed for 2-3 years and so long as you are using your boat regulary ( at least every 2-3 weeks) it works very well.
Be careful if the yard is using what they have leftover from the last job as once the can is opened, I believe that there is a short shelf life for the product. basically it is very stick like a thick grease.
I dive on my boat every month with a mask and snorket and usually just sponge the hull so i have preferref hard antfouls. We cannot get Trinidad paint in AUS and the best paint I have used whihc was Altex 10 was removed from the market. If anyone has got great results with a hard antifoul in waters from 16-23 Celcius, Please let me know

[Ram]

What about Jotun paint for ships anyone use this? Im thing about getting some- its said it lasts 60-90 months ??

[Ex-Calif]

I think the rescue boats at our club that run folks out to their moorings use Jotun. It seems to last no better or worse than other paints - About 18 months in our very fertile waters.

One data point only YMMV.

[Snorkel]

HI there, I have put on International Ultra which is new in Australia and have gone for a darker colour so I will let you know how it goes.

[pacific_voyager]

I once challenged a "true believer" in cayenne pepper as an anti-fouling additive. He also added RoundUp herbicide to his paint. I pointed out htat RoundUp is a water-soluble vascular plant herbicide and I could not see how it could help reduce fouling in a seawater environment.

My challenge was to paint HALF of his boat with cayenne and half with. Nope. Hypothesis testing was not an interest to him.

I spoke with the PPG rep (ABC paint) and he said that they have some serious chemists at work on how to make good anti-fouling paint. The "old salt" actually is just telling "old salt tales".

As another poster put it: "Observations are gold; hypotheses, silver; and conclusions, bronze."

Without anything better than anecdotal evidence, adding cayenne is just bogus witchcraft.

JS

[bad.wabbit]

Originally Posted by colemj

We will be using this for the first time this year. I can tell you more about it in a year or two...

Mark

Hey Mark, Old thread, but I was wondering what your final experience was with the Super Shipbottom paint back in 2008?

Erik

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by TrawlerEd

Thanks for the heads up on SeaHawk. A bit expensive but what ain't these days. There are some e-mail address on the site and I'll ask them how it works for them but of course I'll take it with a grain of salt.

I've had boaters swear up and down there paint works best but then you hear that many boaters think it sucks. Maybe prep is the key but there are so many variables. And do it yourself boat yards are getting scarce.

I used Sea Hawks most expensive copper and it sucks big time compared to trinadad SR70

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by paleoflatus

Here in Queensland, Australia, I have to pull my unpainted fibreglass dinghy out of the water to clean and dry it at least every second or third day. After 48 hours in the sea, there's already a thin coat of green slime on it. At several hundred dollars for an out-and-in lift here, I just couldn't afford to do that regularly - perhaps every week or so - on my Freedom 40 yacht, even if I had the time to do it. Of course, I could hire a diver to go down and do it maybe twice a week, but the cost would also be prohibitive.

I'm hauling out in 2 weeks and looking hard at Micron 66 this time, although I'd like more feedback on how it lasts.

Its top rated here in Florida

[geoleo]

I also have used VIVID zinc based -----------beware of it as it has a tendency to "fall off' due to poor adhesion after a short time........... In USA TrinadadSR and Micron 66 are most reliable

[jayncee]

Last summer I had MarPro Super B Gold bottom paint applied and it seems to be far superior to Micron. Our diver said it was looking great.

[Cloud 09]

In a few months we are taking our boat from Lake Michigan to the Carribean
Does anyone have any experience with changing from a fresh water bottom paint (VC17 is what we currently have on it) to a salt water bottom paint? We currently have a very smooth bottom no blisters. Do we need to take it all the way down add a barrier coat than another paint like trinidad? and seriously cayenne pepper? or should we use VC off shore and not have to take it all off? Any experience with this would be appreciated.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Cloud 09

In a few months we are taking our boat from Lake Michigan to the Carribean
Does anyone have any experience with changing from a fresh water bottom paint (VC17 is what we currently have on it) to a salt water bottom paint? We currently have a very smooth bottom no blisters. Do we need to take it all the way down add a barrier coat than another paint like trinidad? and seriously cayenne pepper? or should we use VC off shore and not have to take it all off? Any experience with this would be appreciated.

VC Offshore has pretty lousy anti fouling properties and is likely to be unsuitable for use in the Carribean. Trinidad is a much better choice. And yes, you will need to remove all the VC17 before going to a non-vinyl paint.

BTW- the cayenne pepper thing? Complete bullsh*t. Don't waste your time or the cayenne.

[Cloud 09]

Thanks Fstbttms,
That's what I thought. now I have to convince my husband cause he will be doing most of getting the VC17 off.

[model 10]

fstbttms, I think you said you are from the SF area so I am not sure you know about, say Panama for example. There they sell little bottles of Pepper that they put into bottom paint ( Hemple is the popular brand) and in that area it seems to help. A little bottle of pepper is a pretty minor cost so that's not really a waste of money or so much BS.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Michael Samson

fstbttms, I think you said you are from the SF area so I am not sure you know about, say Panama for example. There they sell little bottles of Pepper that they put into bottom paint ( Hemple is the popular brand) and in that area it seems to help. A little bottle of pepper is a pretty minor cost so that's not really a waste of money or so much BS.

If pepper (or derivative thereof) was an effective anti fouling paint ingredient, the shelves of every chandlery would be lined with pepper-laced anti fouling paints (especially in this age of increased pressure to reduce heavy metals in our waterways.) But there is not a single example of a commercially available anti fouling paint with pepper in it anywhere in the world, to my knowledge. Certainly not in this country. Why? Because it doesn't work, that's why. It's a wive's tale, pure and simple.