Best hard bottom paint to be cleaned as needed

[Kd9truck]

So my vessel is in Oyster Bay on the Long Island sound, the environment is prolific with life, I have been there for 6 years and have asked around, no one comes out of the water without significant growth on the bottom of their vessels.
I want to put a hard paint/epoxy on the bottom and clean every month during the season, the ablative paints are imho completely ineffective , is anybody else doing this? I do not race, I just enjoy diving and appreciate my vessels hull speed when not encumbered with growth.

[Sandy Frank]

Big boat bucks to switch. I have copper coat in south west Florida, only have soft growth.

I did not drop the rudder or sling the boat for application so there is hard grown on the top of the rudder and button of keel. But Florida shoals are great at scrapping the button.

[Kd9truck]

Thanks Sandy, I am leaning that way, my plans are to soda blast this fall to the gel coat. I don’t ever here of people complaining about there CopperCoat hulls. The ablative paints are ineffective against the prolific life in the waters around my vessel.
Do you do anything for the slime?

[AA3JY]

If you can still find it…

https://www.pettitpaint.com/products...d/trinidad-sr/

..been using it with much success..from the Chesapeake Bay to Fl.

[Sandy Frank]

Originally Posted by Kd9truck

Thanks Sandy, I am leaning that way, my plans are to soda blast this fall to the gel coat. I don’t ever here of people complaining about there CopperCoat hulls. The ablative paints are ineffective against the prolific life in the waters around my vessel.
Do you do anything for the slime?

6kn tends to get rid of the slime.

[Kd9truck]

Originally Posted by AA3JY

If you can still find it…

https://www.pettitpaint.com/products...d/trinidad-sr/

..been using it with much success..from the Chesapeake Bay to Fl.

I will check it out, thank you AA3JY

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Kd9truck

So my vessel is in Oyster Bay on the Long Island sound, the environment is prolific with life, I have been there for 6 years and have asked around, no one comes out of the water without significant growth on the bottom of their vessels.
I want to put a hard paint/epoxy on the bottom and clean every month during the season, the ablative paints are imho completely ineffective , is anybody else doing this? I do not race, I just enjoy diving and appreciate my vessels hull speed when not encumbered with growth.

I really doubt if Long Island Sound is any worse then the warm tropical waters around Florida, or Mexico where I am , or anywhere that has an urban run off and warm water.

I have been in the tropics for 15 years and my experience is that any bottom paint will do. Since Tributyltin Tin went away nothing else makes a huge difference.

Price does vary however, but results do not.

So I use whatever cheapo paint exists locally and I do it every year or so. We've used everything, Trinidad, Interlux, Micron, Hemple, Baltoplate, etc etc. Now using PPG ABC.

If you use 4 gallons the difference between high ($425/gal) and cheap ($175/gal) just about covers the haulout.

Quit searching for the nirvana of bottom paints and just use what is available an do it.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by wingssail

Price does vary however, but results do not.

[Kd9truck]

Originally Posted by wingssail

I really doubt if Long Island Sound is any worse then the warm tropical waters around Florida, or Mexico where I am , or anywhere that has an urban run off and warm water.

I have been in the tropics for 15 years and my experience is that any bottom paint will do. Since Tributyltin Tin went away nothing else makes a huge difference.

Price does vary however, but results do not.

So I use whatever cheapo paint exists locally and I do it every year or so. We've used everything, Trinidad, Interlux, Micron, Hemple, Baltoplate, etc etc. Now using PPG ABC.

If you use 4 gallons the difference between high ($425/gal) and cheap ($175/gal) just about covers the haulout.

Quit searching for the nirvana of bottom paints and just use what is available an do it.

Wingsail i have read your posts and agree with a lot of your thoughts thank you for responding, I am not looking for the Nirvana of paints, I have been trying different ablative paints and have found that they do not do what they say they will do, I am experienced in applying paint (3rd gen professional) and am meticulous with the process. So rather then purchase more chemicals to shed into the water system which is the nature of ablative paint, or at least my understanding of it. I have been and am going to dive my vessel and clean my hull, I am unsure of the interval but I am thinking once every month or so.
Some here do this for a living, (fstbttms the OG)

I like to leave my vessel in water year round, but I will not be diving it in wet storage, my Nirvana will be cleaning my vessels hull, I am up for the challenge and the personal reward, most would not be.
comes out every 3 years, I believe it is better for the vessel in many respects.

A hard paint, modified epoxy or epoxy is what I am seeking opinions and guidance on.

[Sandy Frank]

Dug this inspection video up.

https://youtu.be/IjmxWMWMAqE

This was about 6 months of growth and some other problems. Notice the pitting on my winged keel. Turned out the previous coating was not entirely removed from the keel. So warning about surface prep. Aside from that you can see it was basically only soft growth.

Here is the latest inspection video. After about 2 months in water (post keel repair).

https://youtu.be/0Cw_pMm8rSo

[fstbttms]

Take it from a hull cleaning professional with 27 years and 30,000+ hull cleanings under his belt- The claims that all anti fouling paints are created equal (regardless of price) and that none perform better than another are quite ridiculous. Anybody making them really has no idea what he's talking about. And for this hull diver's money, you cannot do better in a hard paint than Pettit Trinidad.

BTW- There is no evidence that ablative paints are inherently more polluting than hard paints. None. They both are going to leach copper biocide into the water 24/7/365, whether there is water moving past them or not.

[Clivevon]

Coppercoat was worth it for me - lasted around 10 or so years. I have put it on twice - & may do again. Saves a lot of messing around every year.

[Gary Matthesen]

KD9,
We must be neighbors in OB NY. I get 3 years between haul outs, the diver Mitch did me every 3 weeks using his recommended Pettit Hard with SLR. I too winter in water at WSM in Huntington, assume you were referring to them.
We both know Mitch hasnt had a diver this being the second year. I use a dry diver to do what I can, the worst part being the water line and bottom nearest the surface sunlight. Never bad on the deep keel.
I have a 25 foot pressure line from the tank on the deck to the regulator, do my own zincs, loan to nephew to do his boat. Hear there is a launch driver in Sagamore that does bottoms.
Came say hi on CC 26

[bkrizmanic]

Originally Posted by AA3JY

If you can still find it…

https://www.pettitpaint.com/products...d/trinidad-sr/

..been using it with much success..from the Chesapeake Bay to Fl.

I used Trinidad SR and never had issues, sadly it has been discontinued and replaced with Trinidad Pro, but I haven't heard any feedback on it.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by bkrizmanic

I used Trinidad SR and never had issues, sadly it has been discontinued and replaced with Trinidad Pro, but I haven't heard any feedback on it.

Trinidad SR wasn't replaced by Trinidad Pro. Trinidad SR and Trinidad Pro were the same product, just labeled differently. SR's replacement product is Trinidad HD. And Trinidad Pro is now (as before) simply the same paint with a different label.