Bottom Paint

[highseas]

It's important to sand or clean all traces of barnacles because they attract new growth faster,even through the new paint.

[forsailbyowner]

Heck if its ablative paint Id sure add a coat or two. or even a coat of ablative over the hard. Its not worn out till its gone so an extra layer of paint will just add time till you need to haul again. Last time I checked I think a bottom job was costing around $25 a foot. I usually add a coat or two between haulouts standing her up at low tide to save haulout bucks.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by highseas

I can see racers wanting to keep their bottom like a babies bum,paying for biweekly cleanings.On the other hand paying upwards of $250. per gallon for paint that needs cleaning that much is ridiculous.

You clearly have never kept a boat in California. The anti fouling paint that doesn't need regular cleaning here does not exist.

[highseas]

What is regular cleaning?,cmon be realistic.I sailed from Van. B.C. to Mexico after hauling/painting my boat in May.09' Stayed in Socal. a couple of months Sept./Oct. Then without cleaning yet,sailed to Cabo in about 10 days,no problem with boatspeed or performance.It was November before I even looked at it.In Mexico the barnacles are pesky and start to be a problem in Dec,.That was just with the Bottomcote.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by highseas

What is regular cleaning?,cmon be realistic.I sailed from Van. B.C. to Mexico after hauling/painting my boat in May.09' Stayed in Socal. a couple of months Sept./Oct. Then without cleaning yet,sailed to Cabo in about 10 days,no problem with boatspeed or performance.It was November before I even looked at it.In Mexico the barnacles are pesky and start to be a problem in Dec,.That was just with the Bottomcote.

Yeah, you're probably right- the 100,000 hull cleanings we do here in the Bay Area every year and the 140,000 cleanings in San Diego are unnecessary.

[highseas]

Glad you are busy,keep up the good work.

[onestepcsy37]

never realized things are so bad over on the left coast.

been in the water in florida since the 1970's. always use pettit trinidad hard bottom paint. easily lasts three to four years with the very rare bottom scrubbing. i had to haul this year after only two years in the water due to other problems. there were about a dozen barnacles on the entire boat.

props on the other hand can be a real problem in some places here. i used to dive the prop once a month and knock off heavy growths of barnacles with my masons trowel. then a diver put me on to sex wax. i cleaned the prop and rubbed sex wax on it. took a bunch of breath hold dives but i managed to rub quite a bit on.
never had a problem again.

sex wax? ask any surfer.....

[Ironhorse74]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Where do you come up with this nonsense? In California, the first cleaning should typically occur 3 months after splashing.

In Washington waters it is illegal to scrub ablative paint in the water. Hence it does not happen.

[HopCar]

fastbttms has no financial interest in telling you that you need to apply a good bottom paint often. He makes his living cleaning bottoms. I say you don't need bottom paint if you have a diver clean the bottom often. I have no financial incentive to say that as I sell bottom paint. I think I'll change my advise. fstbttms is correct, you must paint your bottom with expensive paint as often as possible. Ca-Ching!

onestepcsy37, how often do you need to reapply the wax?

[onestepcsy37]

hopcar -

i kept my boat on a mooring in daytona beach. just sitting there it picked up a load of barnacles on the prop - but not on the hull - in about a month. after applying the sex wax it sat there for four more months with no barnacle growth at all. we then left for the bahamas and had no further barnacle problems. i can't say if the spinning prop eventually wore off the sex wax because when we returned i had to haul the boat for other work.

so i can say that it lasted for at least four months without using the boat. i'll keep the forum informed of any further experience with sex wax but, at about 2 bucks per cake, it's cheap enough for anyone to give it a try....

[Blue Stocking]

Around here:
A. At least 6 different brands of paint.
B. Ablative, hard, and Teflon.
C. Copper contents vary from 48 to 80%
D. 12 months of the year application with water temps from 58* to 88*F
E. Heavy run-off poluted to clear 3-4 knot flowing water for mooring areas.

How can there be only 1 set of growth conditions?

[HopCar]

OnestepCSY37, That's pretty good, especially if you can reapply it in the water. I've been using Prop Speed and it's great. It seems to work about as long as my bottom paint but it is expensive and of course the prop has to be dry to apply it. Wait a minute, I sell Prop Speed. Sex Wax is crap, you must use Prop Speed. Ca-Ching!
Seriously, I look forward to further reports on the Sexy Prop Wax.

[buxomwench8]

Thanks for all the input! We have the bottom cleaned 1x a month. We'll let our diver assess if we should paint or not. Money can surely be spent on other improvements... like a new oven! Former owner had it painted in Tahiti with lead paint that lasted 10 yrs! We have copper based now.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by HopCar

fastbttms has no financial interest in telling you that you need to apply a good bottom paint often. He makes his living cleaning bottoms. I say you don't need bottom paint if you have a diver clean the bottom often. I have no financial incentive to say that as I sell bottom paint. I think I'll change my advise. fstbttms is correct, you must paint your bottom with expensive paint as often as possible.

Yes, I am hull cleaner, this not a secret. But your statement doesn't even make sense.

Which boat is going to need a diver's services more often, one with bottom paint or one without? And if I was trying to drum up business, why would I recommend boaters use the most effective anti fouling paints available? I'll tell you why- because I'm here to inform and educate boat owners about proper boat maintenance procedures, not to drum up business. And if you recommend that boat owners will be fine keeping a boat in saltwater with no bottom paint, you do so out of ignorance of those procedures.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse74

In Washington waters it is illegal to scrub ablative paint in the water. Hence it does not happen.

If those from the PNW who have posted in this thread are to be believed, it didn't need to be cleaned in the first place, so what does it matter if it's illegal to do so or not?