Ablative versus multi year

[djousset]

I am planing to strip the bottom of my boat this fall/next spring. Doe sit make sense to skip the multi-year/hard bottom paint and go with a straight ablative? In other words.....is it easier to scrape one more later of paint or a bunch of barnacles.....?

[NewMoon]

On my boat in the PNW, a good ablative application goes 2-3 years, with no barnacles. Then a powerwash and re-paint -> 2-3 more years.

[slug]

Originally Posted by djousset

I am planing to strip the bottom of my boat this fall/next spring. Doe sit make sense to skip the multi-year/hard bottom paint and go with a straight ablative? In other words.....is it easier to scrape one more later of paint or a bunch of barnacles.....?

I’ve been using TRILUX 33 for many years

Good paint and it greatly prolongs the life of your anodes

[osprey877]

Originally Posted by NewMoon

On my boat in the PNW, a good ablative application goes 2-3 years, with no barnacles. Then a powerwash and re-paint -> 2-3 more years.

👍👍. Hard finish is great if you’re racing. Otherwise the ablative should work fine. Just power wash and paint every 2nd or third season. no sanding, scraping etc required. May be different if you’re in the east and have to haul out for 5 months of the year anyways, but here in the PNW only racers use hard finishes and haul annually.

[bstreep]

We've always had a hard bottom. Interlux Ultra. We get 3-3.5 years out of it, and we have a VERY aggressive environment. We get eating sized oysters in 5-6 weeks, and barnacles will grow to nickle size in just a few weeks.



It shouldn't make a difference. But 12 years ago when we bought our boat, our surveyor told us about the 100s of blisters we have: "Just do a couple of hundred each time you put a bottom on. After a few times, you won't have a blister problem." He was right. We had ONE on the last bottom job.

[djousset]

Here in the northeast we are 5 months in, 7 months out. The boat is just up river getting an aggressive salt wash 4 times a day. Last year's paint was COMPLETELY gone when I hauled and there were barnacles to remove. .Looking for something that will at least last the season.

[rslifkin]

Even with being hauled for winter, I use ablative. From a fresh start, put 2 - 3 coats on, then each year after, add more as needed in the wear spots.

For wear rate of ablatives, they're not all equal. Some are harder than others and wear slower, making them better suited to faster boats, but may not ablate enough on a slow boat. I'd put Micron CSC and Extra in that category. They don't ablate overly fast on 15 - 20 kt powerboats, so they're probably a bit on the too-hard side for most sailboats.

[mikereed100]

Originally Posted by djousset

Here in the northeast we are 5 months in, 7 months out. The boat is just up river getting an aggressive salt wash 4 times a day. Last year's paint was COMPLETELY gone when I hauled and there were barnacles to remove. .Looking for something that will at least last the season.

You didn't mention which paint you use, but Micron 66 will flake off if exposed to fresh water. I don't know if there are any other ablatives with this issue, but worth checking before painting. We have been in a lot of fresh water with Sherwin Williams 150Y, a copper-free ablative, with no issues.

I like to use a hard paint as a base coat, then sand and paint over that with a different color of ablative.

[Emouchet]

Here is my experience:
Been using ablative water based Aquaguard antifouling paint.


May 2019, stripped the old paint down to the Interprotect layer, to get a clean startup.


Added 2 thick coats of Aquaguard clear blue, and 2 more tick coats of Aquagard black, with the idea that when we will see the blue color appearing, we woulbe at 50% usage.


From September 2019 to May 2020, sailed 4500nm, at 5.5kn average, on the boat. Left upstate NY down to the Bahamas and returned via the ICW.


I dived 4 times to clean the hull: December in Florida, then every 4 weeks while in the Bahamas to brush and clean the hull. From march 23rd up to may 10th, we sailed daily on the way back from Nassau to upstate NY. Did not clean the hull all along. On the haul out, the hull was dirty, with lots of small barnacles, even if water temp was pretty cold along the east coast. Took me a long time to pressure wash. Everything came out (and a bit of the paint too!) with the pressure gun, no need to use extra scrapper tools.

After 4500nm over 8 month, the black coats are still there. The blue coats are mostly non visible yet.

[guyrj33]

using ablative, apply one coat of blue and then two coats of green.
When the blue signal layer shows through add more green.

Of course you can choose your own colors.

[Scubaseas]

Here in the northeast we are 5 months in, 7 months out. The boat is just up river getting an aggressive salt wash 4 times a day. Last year's paint was COMPLETELY gone when I hauled and there were barnacles to remove. .Looking for something that will at least last the season.

I moved my boat from NY to Maine and had it in a river. No issues at all with Pettit Ultima SR40 but don't know if it's legal to apply in NH. The Maine yard said no but it's still in very good shape after 4 years at 5-6 months each

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

Even with being hauled for winter, I use ablative. From a fresh start, put 2 - 3 coats on, then each year after, add more as needed in the wear spots.

For wear rate of ablatives, they're not all equal. Some are harder than others and wear slower, making them better suited to faster boats, but may not ablate enough on a slow boat. I'd put Micron CSC and Extra in that category. They don't ablate overly fast on 15 - 20 kt powerboats, so they're probably a bit on the too-hard side for most sailboats.

My experience with Micron Extra was the opposite. It would come off very quickly. Plumes of black water everywhere if you so much a looked at it sideways.

Seajet on the other hand is relatively hard for a soft paint and doesn’t seem to wear away much.

The micron whilst still there was the better antifoul. And for some the more wear the better.

It’s often talked about applying different colours of abalative antifoul. In my experience that doesn’t work. It comes in certain pot sizes and one pot might be way more than you need for one coat and a lot less than you need for two so you end up spending more and more waste.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by mikedefieslife

My experience with Micron Extra was the opposite. It would come off very quickly. Plumes of black water everywhere if you so much a looked at it sideways.

Seajet on the other hand is relatively hard for a soft paint and doesn’t seem to wear away much.

The micron whilst still there was the better antifoul. And for some the more wear the better.

It’s often talked about applying different colours of abalative antifoul. In my experience that doesn’t work. It comes in certain pot sizes and one pot might be way more than you need for one coat and a lot less than you need for two so you end up spending more and more waste.

Interesting. I've found Micron CSC to be quite durable, and have occasionally used Extra with no obvious difference other than reduced slime growth.

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

Interesting. I've found Micron CSC to be quite durable, and have occasionally used Extra with no obvious difference other than reduced slime growth.

Mine started going downhill after the Portugese rivers like the Guadiana, but it's not exactly fresh water, and the spec sheets don't show any problems for Micron Extra in water lower salinity. Micron 66 yes but Extra, no.

Because of that I don't really want to try it again.

P.S mine was the Original Micron Extra, not Micron Extra EU, or later 350 or whatever they changed it to.

[rslifkin]

Interesting. I moved my boat into fresh water last year with CSC on it. 2.5 months from then to haulout and other than some chipping due to too much paint on the bottom, it showed no paint issues and powerwashed perfectly clean easily (paint was 2 years old at that point).