Bottom Paint Color. Does it matter?

[freelandken]

Pulled my boat today to do engine work, but while talking with some "neighbors" in the yard about bottom paint, I heard conflicting opinions.
One person told me that black paint works better for antifouling, while another told me he doesn't like most colors and said white bottom paint works best.
Anyone have facts or experience that would agree or disagree with these statements? Does color matter? And the discussion was about ablative paint, not hard.
Since I do need another paint job after only about 13 months, I'm curious. Seems that what I'm using just isn't doing the job. I'm in South Florida moored in the ICW.

[StuM]

Orange/Yellow for multihulls. Doesn't make any difference for monohulls

[puffcard]

Red attracts whales. Green and black hard to see slime. White looks dirty all the time. Blue looks like old school to me.

[Orion Jim]

Originally Posted by StuM

Orange/Yellow for multihulls. Doesn't make any difference for monohulls

Easier to spot from rescue aircraft?

[robwilk37]

used to be red bottom paint had a lot more actual copper in it. not sure if thats still true but labeling info would tell the tale.

[Stu Jackson]

My friend, who sailed from BC to MX, suggested that black attracts whales. From when one surfaced right beside him on his C34. The name of his boat was Black Dragon, with according trim. Next time he said blue or red. Underneath...


Your boat, your choice.

[44'cruisingcat]

I chose black partly on the basis that marine algae and slime would need light to photosynthesize, and obviously black reflects less light.

But mostly because it looks good.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

Easier to spot from rescue aircraft?

Yep, no point for a leadmine

[Russ]

My paint people at e-Paint for metal boats told me lighter colors work better in Florida. My light gray last two years +. They apparently supply paint to USCG. Russ

[glcalahan]

I went with Teal cause I am a Jaguar fan!��

[akprb]

Originally Posted by StuM

Yep, no point for a leadmine

Perfect answer!!! (From one cat guy to another) :-)

[letoile]

Find out what GGR 2018/19 race winner JEAN-LUC VAN DEN HEEDE used on his boat, Matmut. His solo circumnavigation was 212 days, but the boat was in the water for over 300 and it came home as clean as a whistle!!

[MJH]

Originally Posted by freelandken

Pulled my boat today to do engine work, but while talking with some "neighbors" in the yard about bottom paint, I heard conflicting opinions.
One person told me that black paint works better for antifouling, while another told me he doesn't like most colors and said white bottom paint works best.
Anyone have facts or experience that would agree or disagree with these statements? Does color matter? And the discussion was about ablative paint, not hard.
Since I do need another paint job after only about 13 months, I'm curious. Seems that what I'm using just isn't doing the job. I'm in South Florida moored in the ICW.

It has always amazed me that we can send a man to the moon but unable to develop a perfect bottom paint; the difficult tasks are closer to home.

The effectiveness of the bottom paint is more important than the color, so says Practical Sailor Magazine. They continually test paints and issue their findings annually; the findings do change. Unfortunately, they also report that the findings are affected by the local water conditions and may be different for different areas, i.e. what works in Florida may not work as well in the beautiful Northwest or New England states. Another avenue is to ask around your local area to see what seems to work best but that hardly scientific. To a lesser extent the percentage of copper is not always better as well but soon to change with environmental regulations.

It is advantageous to change colors in order to better tell where new/more paint is needed. I personally change between black, red, and blue the most common colors.

Good Luck.

~ ~ _/) ~ ~ Mike

[S/V Alchemy]

I have no idea, but I alternate colours of ablative paint each year so I can note where the most wear happens thanks to the appearance of the previous season's colour!

I'm going to hard paint for offshore, so I'll ask around myself.

[HopCar]

Pettit Trinidad SR is a popular hard bottom paint in South Florida. The red color has about 75% cupros oxide. The other colors only have about 68%. I don’t know if that makes a measurable difference in effectiveness.

The important thing is that the paint have an antislime ingredient. Look for SR on the label of Pettit paints or Biolux on Interlux paints.

My choice in South Florida would be Trinidad SR for a hard paint or Interlux 66 for an ablative.