Trinidad SR - Bottom Paint Problem

[S/V Elusive]

About 5 years ago, I painted my bottom with the Trinidad SR. Worked GREAT and lasted for over 4 and 1/2 years.

Three months ago, I again hauled and painted with Trinidad SR. It ain't work'n so great already. I had growth stick'n after only a month in the water. Diver WIPED it all off. I remember that after the first time, I didn't have to have anything 'cleaned' for about 5 months.

When I hauled this last time, I cleaned, medium sanded (made sure I roughed it up well), cleaned off again, let dry, and applied 4 gallons (1 more than last time - and for those that count, that is $800 worth of paint!). It DID go on thickly (? - thicker than I remember it going on from before) - I got two overall coats, and four coats on leading edges, waterline, and the rudder. All coats applied within 4 days; temperature about 75 degrees F, and no paint applied after 2pm.

I'm also seeing a 'wipe' stripe along the water line. What the hell did I do wrong? I can't believe it is the paint ... or??? Ideas? Thoughts?

[fstbttms]

If you went 4.5 years between bottom jobs, you are ahead of the game. No offense, but I feel for your diver. 2-3 years out of a well-applied, quality bottom paint is what you can reasonably expect in California. And what you are experiencing now seems normal to me, especially considering the unusually sunny weather we've been having this winter.

[S/V Elusive]

Thanks - my diver REALLY enjoys doing "the queen mary" now. So, the last 8 months before I hauled out, it wasn't an easy job - but now he has it 'easy' for at least two years ... evens out. But if you say that what I'm experiencing is 'normal', I guess I'll see how it goes.

Thanks

[Evan]

It could be that the formulation for CA has changed. I'd contact Petitt directly and tell them you are unhappy now.

[S/V Antares]

We had a similar issue with Trinadad SR which had always worked great for or 2-3 year haul sched. The last coat was foul inside of 6 months. Very disapointing. I changed to Micron66 ($$$$$$) and 6 months later there is no hint of growth. We will be watching closely.

[S/V Elusive]

Interesting. Guess I'll be contacting Petit.

[Pblais]

I would talk to others near you. Water temperature and salinity have a role in this too. How often you use the boat matters as well. Here where the water does get warm we paint evry two years with 2 coats plus a little extra in those special spots as you do. A friend likes to do 3 coats and repaints almost as often. I have the boat dived for the running gear only each month April through November. Summer and fall really trashes the prop since the water heats up so much.

[sabray]

I applied 3 coats 1 year ago chesapeake area. So far looks great. I have used trinidad for years and never had a problem. When you say I painted did you do it or someone else? Either way you gotta mix all that good stuff off the bottom.

[SurfNRG]

I've also had great results with Trinidad Petitt SR here in the Indian River Lagoon (Central East Coast Florida). Make sure you mix the gallon can in a professional shaker or a mixer that you put on a drill. Gotta make sure it's all mixed well.

[raritan]

I had a problem with Trinidad this year also - very heavy fouling by barnacles. Paint seemed in very good condition - smooth and uniform, but covered with barnacles

[Ocean Girl]

the color of the paint has a lot to do with it, or rather, it is another factor along with water temp, current and such.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

the color of the paint has a lot to do with it, or rather, it is another factor...

Not to discount your opinion, but I have been cleaning boat bottoms for over 15 years and have never noticed any difference in anti fouling performance for a particular product, based on color.

[neilpride]

I think i know the problem!! i have the same problem with petit trinidad 3 years ago, i put 3 coats and after 2 months in the water lot of barnacles and grass; ok, let me tell you something, this antifouling is loaded with 60 to 70 % of copper and things like igarol, all this stuff is going to be in the bottom of the can, so if the can is not properly mixed and shaked the antifouling fail in a short time, and is very hard to mix this kind of antifouling , if i remember the shop mix the can for me and spend for every gallon about 3 minutes in the shaking machine.
Last year we sail south to trinidad , and i make the same decision , buy hard copper loaded petit trinidad, but this time i mix the paint by myself, and right now i have the bottom in prety good shape , no grass, no barnacles , after 1 year in the caribbean.

I think the clue is a properly clean bottom and a properly mixed paint, i think is disaster find grass and barnacles in the bottom paint after 1 month in the water.
And i believe in this paint, is fantastic, work in the `past great for me, something you made wrong in the final steps, the copper need to be very well mixed with the rest of the paint . Cheers.

[s/v Jedi]

There's two things happening:

the first one as identified by NeilPride: not properly mixed paint. The only way to correct that is to use the 2-pot system: mix with the attachment on the electric drill like crazy, sometimes stopping and using a flat stick to scrape the sides and bottom, followed by more machine-mixing. When you think it is good, it isn't. Pour the paint over in a 2nd, empty pot, scraping everything out the first pot. Mix again.

if that's done right but the results are less than expected (we're talking hard paint now) the paint might be bad or it needs some activating. You do that by scrubbing it (a bit) with a scotchpad while in the water. The reason is that the cured paint might have developed a "skin" (with mostly binder-material from the paint) which prevents the active ingredients from doing their work. The scrub opens that skin.

My hard Trinidad that went on in Florida in April 2003 worked very good... until we reached the DR in June 2003. So, it was worthless 3 months later because of the different climate and water (tropical instead of sub-tropical).

cheers,
Nick.

[Ocean Girl]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Not to discount your opinion, but I have been cleaning boat bottoms for over 15 years and have never noticed any difference in anti fouling performance for a particular product, based on color.

Actually my info may be outdated. But when I did bottom jobs years ago I saw that certain colors had a higher copper content ( trinidad). Reds, browns and blacks being the highest. Maybe they found a way around adding the same amount of copper to a green as thay do a red with out changing the color of the paint.
Erika