Not doing bottom paint. What can go wrong?

[smj]

My wife and I would clean the bottom of our cat about every 2 weeks in the Fl Keys which is a high growth area. We would use textured gloves and the wipe down would remove soft growth and small forming barnacle. It would take about 10 minutes, each taking a hull snorkeling.
A friend told us years ago that leaving the daggerboards down flush with the hull would cut down on barnacle growth, and that’s held true. We bottom painted the bottom 1.5’ of daggerboard and same distance up the trunk, and the only signs of barnacle growth has pretty much been the bottom exposed edge of the board.

[catsketcher]

Chotu - My boat is smaller than yours - mine is 38ft - but I need to get right down into the water, to reach the centreline, hence the full wetsuit. I could not use waders - they would fill right up.

I really like knowing that my hulls are clean and I like keeping a really good appraisal of them by gently rubbing the hulls. My neck gets wet and the bqck of my head as I wander along each side gently washing away. I used to use a snorkel but then I just learnt to use touch to tell me where I was (and I know the boat because I built it). I would recommend you get a proper wetsuit and get confortable with working on the bottom from right in the water. Pushing on a pole or doing it from above is nowhere near as good at checking and removing growth. You are supported by the water and the nice sandy bottom - it is a super easy job to do on a light centreboard cat. I haven't found a better way in 40 years of owning mults than jumping on in with the boat. I actually enjoy doing it - it makes for a pleasant part of an afternoon, and then we go for a fast sail and the boat seems to like it as well.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by catsketcher

Chotu - My boat is smaller than yours - mine is 38ft - but I need to get right down into the water, to reach the centreline, hence the full wetsuit. I could not use waders - they would fill right up.

I really like knowing that my hulls are clean and I like keeping a really good appraisal of them by gently rubbing the hulls. My neck gets wet and the bqck of my head as I wander along each side gently washing away. I used to use a snorkel but then I just learnt to use touch to tell me where I was (and I know the boat because I built it). I would recommend you get a proper wetsuit and get confortable with working on the bottom from right in the water. Pushing on a pole or doing it from above is nowhere near as good at checking and removing growth. You are supported by the water and the nice sandy bottom - it is a super easy job to do on a light centreboard cat. I haven't found a better way in 40 years of owning mults than jumping on in with the boat. I actually enjoy doing it - it makes for a pleasant part of an afternoon, and then we go for a fast sail and the boat seems to like it as well.

OK. Maybe you’re right about that.

After this scraping and paint application on the hard, I’ll give that a shot if/when needed.

The wetsuit is to keep from getting bit by everything? And to keep the jellyfish off?

I have done this with a wetsuit before on a much larger boat, and those damn biting worm looking things that come off when you scrape went down into the wetsuit itself and bit me relentlessly.

I have serious concerns about the irritant and chemicals that these things give off given that I have bad reactions to everything. I have to be careful about that. I can’t be getting bit by things or stung by jellyfish or exposed to the bottom paint chemicals. I have to stay away from chemical irritants. Not to mention the water isn’t always very clean and bacteria free - or warm enough for a wetsuit. Are used to have a semi-dry suit for doing random things below the boat. It was destroyed in storage.

I guess I will see what I can reach after this bottom job since there will be some spots I cannot reach to paint during this process.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by smj

My wife and I would clean the bottom of our cat about every 2 weeks in the Fl Keys which is a high growth area. We would use textured gloves and the wipe down would remove soft growth and small forming barnacle. It would take about 10 minutes, each taking a hull snorkeling.
A friend told us years ago that leaving the daggerboards down flush with the hull would cut down on barnacle growth, and that’s held true. We bottom painted the bottom 1.5’ of daggerboard and same distance up the trunk, and the only signs of barnacle growth has pretty much been the bottom exposed edge of the board.

Agreed about the dagger board. I have been surprised. Over the years I have not put bottom paint on the board or the trunk. No growth. I keep them retracted when not in use.

Once a very long time ago after sitting in high growth areas in south Florida, I think I did get a little bit of growth on them, but a quick up and down you could hear some crunching and the growth broke off immediately.

So definitely the board and trunk are not growth problems. It’s surprising. I don’t know why. I guess not enough water flows through there to support barnacle life.

[Leighpilot]

Bite the bullet. Haul the boat and apply Coppercoat. Thereafter find a place to dry out annually and wipe the bottom clean. That’s what I’m doing. Once a year dry out on a sand bar ( we have a catamaran) and 30 minutes wipe down gives us a nice clean bottom.

[boat driver]

I am not sure all said and done if you havethe incorrect bottom paint for the region, wornn of ablative paint (aka done working) , or you are bitching about the inlfation costs of the paint and your belief it is overpriced.
But if youa re in Long Iaslnd sound and staying in long island sound- then paint the boat with a paint that a knowledgable yard recommends- or research bottom paints by discussing with regional paint rep that work for your needs.
Bottom paints are costly period, and the formulas chamge with regualtions and regions, so you fail to provide enough factual info to your boat. Wjat works in the tropics on a moving boat may/will not work in maine on a stationary moored vessel.
ECO paints are interetsing formulas. period.
Colors also effect growth. White looks cool but is the hardest to prevent growth-becasue the white reflects light which grows.
Good luck

[Pete the Cat]

I have lived and cruised Maine for 30 years. First get a copy of the Cruising Guide to the Maine Coast by Taft and Rindlaub. It has information you will need, the information on docks and restaurants will not be accurate, but the diagrams and descriptions of anchorages are essential to choosing them if you are not a local. I agree with reconsidering you destination for several reasons. First, to do the trip and enjoy anything along the way in your time frame makes Bar Harbor a stretch. Also, Bar Harbor is one of the least attractive (sorry fellow Mainers) harbor towns for exploration unless you want tourist trinkets and mobs of folks bumping into each other. Acadia park is nice, but you might want to visit that by car in the off season. It is a mob scene in the summer.
I also would suggest that hugging the coast is a bad idea around Cape Elizabeth and Southeast Maine (sorry Mainere). It will take you away from some of the best Maine spots and you will spend a lot of your time going in and out of harbors that are crowded and not that charming. Here is my suggestion.
Go with the current through the Cape Cod Canal and do an overnight trip to Tenants Harbor as fast as you can. Rest/Eat/Sleep.
Then take the Fox Island Thoroughfare and plan a stop at Northhaven or just pick an anchorage from the Cruising Guide.
Then sail through the Casco Passage and think about a night in the Merchant islands (at least one night). Get supplies at Stonington if you have run out of beer by then.
Then plan the rest of your trip but do not miss one of the great harbors of Swans' Island or Long Island (Frenchboro).
Then think about if you Really want to go to Bar Harbor. I don't recommend it. It is more miles than it looks and you will have current issues no matter if you take the inside passages or go outside (consult the Cruising Guide about this to save yourself some frustration).
The return trip should be offshore to make time. You might stay over at Matinicus or Frenchboro for the jumping off point for the return to the Canal opening. Most folks pack way too much into a Maine cruise and few folks get to see much on their first trip. Think that the heart of Maine crusing is really Penobscot Bay and its islands all the way to Mt Desert. There is good cruising elsewhere, but this is the heart. The Gulf of Maine can be unpredictable, but is generally calm overnight--you will need to be able to motor the entire distance. Have enough fuel. And you should probably have a line cutter on your prop shaft if you do not already. Whatever you do, do not rely on AIS in fog-you need radar if you are moving fast in fog. The lobstermen do not use AIS and they will be everywhere--even offshore.

[bouncycastle]

Not sure how copper epoxy paints react with metal hulls

Epoxy copper anti fouling systems paints can last ten years as a anti foul paint

Your boat being metal with epoxy paint will have good chance to stick well

Most copper coats I heard
of being done are plastic boats

Many hreads exist on disasters often done by boat yards who don't understand Epoxy paints

Temperature and clean surface and experimenting copper powder and epoxy ratios are the problems for this dark art

Too much epoxy the farm grows as not enough copper to poison the farm

Too much copper risks for the epoxy paint to flake off

It is if successful it is meaning every few months or even once annually guick wipe down and weeds àre removed to make smooth surface

For now divers and cleaning is cheaper solution look to find cheap place to put boat on the hard and look to do epoxy copper solitions or any other long term suitable paints

I epoxy coated my 34 foot catermeran and used it for living on and every few weeks cleaned the bottom cheapest solution ever .
Hard for farms to grow onto smooth epoxy but if neglected can with barnicales get a better grip

[pbmaise]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Your boat won’t be damaged if you don’t use anti fouling paint. If it was a wooden boat you might worry about shipworms but worms don’t like epoxy.

Have a diver clean it once a month before hard growth really gets going. If it’s a very high growth area ask the diver about a quick wipe every two weeks. Likely less expensive than the $7000 or so to haul, prep and apply high quality bottom paint.

I assume you have some paint on the epoxy? Near the waterline UV could damaging uncovered epoxy.

Epoxy boat that went over 10 years without new bottom paint. While I owned the vessel I cleaned it myself almost every week to make sure nothing larger than a grain of sand grew on it. I used a very soft plastic scrapper.

After the new owners took over, they failed to keep up the cleaning.

I found a hard mollusk like shell on the bottom. These were about 3 inches in diameter and up to 1/2 inch thick. Below these shells I found perfect little round holes which fortunately stopped. I am thinking what ever was making the holes stopped when they ate through the outer layers of epoxy faring and then reached fiberglass.

Perhaps if they new owner waited longer they would have been even in worse shape because what ever made those holes could have bored all the way into the balsa core.

Upon haulout, the vessel cleaned up fine and we had some faring to do where there were holes. Paint adhered fine.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by pbmaise

Epoxy boat that went over 10 years without new bottom paint. While I owned the vessel I cleaned it myself almost every week to make sure nothing larger than a grain of sand grew on it. I used a very soft plastic scrapper.

After the new owners took over, they failed to keep up the cleaning.

I found a hard mollusk like shell on the bottom. These were about 3 inches in diameter and up to 1/2 inch thick. Below these shells I found perfect little round holes which fortunately stopped. I am thinking what ever was making the holes stopped when they ate through the outer layers of epoxy faring and then reached fiberglass.

Perhaps if they new owner waited longer they would have been even in worse shape because what ever made those holes could have bored all the way into the balsa core.

Upon haulout, the vessel cleaned up fine and we had some faring to do where there were holes. Paint adhered fine.

Wow!!!

Thank you for posting this first hand experience with the exact same type of material.

That settles it. The bottom job must be done.

It was a bad idea to think I could just put it off.

[hirondeller]

For the initial cleaning, I agree with the steel scraper crowd, with a twist.

Mount a steel scraper (no saw teeth just a very sharp knife blade) on a multi-tool. Round the sharp corners of the blade with a file so they don't dig in. Don't push hard, even dried barnacles and evil dried weed & scum come right off.

This method is so easy and works so well on fiberglass hulls I don't even care if the boat is hauled and sits for weeks, it scrapes right off. I did twin 23ft cat hulls in an hour, I removed hundreds of barnacles. I scraped an outboard aluminum foot that looked like a reef in 15min! Please post if you try it on wood or steel.

[blazing928]

Just Coppercoat it.
Even if you’re a non believer it’s so tuff a coating, it’s easily cleaned.
You won’t be comprising your hull coatings.

It’s doable DYI, just follow instructions, temperature, sanding, clean, mix, paint and burnish.
You will need a few friends to paint as there is a timeline to follow.

You will never have to anti foul again…

Last year i propspeeded my 4 props. Despite the pros telling you it’s a complicated process yada yada , it was a pretty simple process. Maybe I’m ok at reading and following manufacturers instructions!

[CaptainMarkS]

I agree ref Coppercoat. In addition to being long lasting, it is a water based epoxy and won’t release volatile organics that you’re chemically sensitive to. One cannot do this careened, however. You’ll need to haul out for this, but can amortize the cost over 10 years! We love our Coppercoat, which we did mostly ourselves in Mexico.

[merrydolphin]

Not much. When in the tropics with warm clear water I cleaned the bottom myself and considered it a great aerobic workout. Let my bottom paint go about 3 yrs doing this. No problem. No harm. And if you are using an ablative almost no prep to paint.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by CaptainMarkS

I agree ref Coppercoat. In addition to being long lasting, it is a water based epoxy and won’t release volatile organics that you’re chemically sensitive to. One cannot do this careened, however. You’ll need to haul out for this, but can amortize the cost over 10 years! We love our Coppercoat, which we did mostly ourselves in Mexico.

. Surprised so many people they nk this stuff is good.

I've previously heard nothing but mixed reviews.

I'm sensitive (to put it mildly) to amines, or the hardener side of epoxy, not solvents.