A Bottom Paint Story

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

You're the one who said that keeping your hull clean is a dumb idea.

Is your side job writing political stories? Is that how you learned to spin something to mean something else?

I never said maintaining my boat's bottom was a dumb idea.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I never said maintaining my boat's bottom was a dumb idea.

Well, since frequent hull cleaning is necessary to keep a boat bottom clean in regions of high fouling and you inferred that frequent hull cleaning was something that shouldn't be done, what exactly did you mean? One presumes that you meant that frequent hull cleaning would hasten the time one had to haul for new paint. Am I wrong?

[Kenomac]

A simple question for fstbttms and Sailorboy, when I prep our boat for the Caribbean this Fall, which ablative paint do you recommend? Any idea what's being used successfully around the windward islands?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Any idea what's being used successfully around the windward islands?

Please don't use any of the Sea Hawk tin-based paints. That's all I've got on that particular subject.

[heron237]

I for one really enjoyed reading your first-hand tale of the "bottom" paint, and appreciated that you took the time to share your observations on the forum. I'm not sure what the takeaway was because you didn't conduct a scientific experiment- not that it was meant to be but I can assure you that in a literary sense it was entirely satisfying. The point is not where you ended up but how you got there! There is a long history of wonderful writings done by normal people making observations let's start with The Compleat Angler.... then as now there was chaos in the world and that book offered a welcome respite been in print since 1657 or so..... So Sailorboy carry on! you're in good company.

[Jason Flare]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I’m not going to battle back against people wanting to spin something from a line or two out of the story. This isn’t some “news” channel.

Are you sure you don’t want to talk about this?

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I traveled a total of about 50 miles with that growth. The bottom had been cleaned about 2 months prior. This was an extreme growth location/condition occurrence. This spinning of the story to make it sound like I don't maintain the bottom of my boat is just BS. I note that somehow that after that growth occurrence the fact that I traveled well over 2000 miles and 9 months not having the bottom cleaned and then hauled out with basically a clean bottom is just ignored.

Last week just prior to going into the yard to do a bottom job I motored at max throttle and noted the speed. Yesterday after doing the bottom I did it again and noted the speed. I picked up 0.3 knots for the $1980 I spent on my bare new 100% growth free and clean prop/shaft.

Are we dating?

[hpeer]

Yeah, bottom paint is a mystery. There are way to many variables to make anything but general rules or suggestions.

I’ve been using PPG Ameron ABC3 paint. It’s oretty inexpensive and used wisely on commercial vessels. Alabative seems to work OK for me.

Now I’ve got an experiment for you hardy souls, should you care to try.

Long story short, I’m washing my bottom paint with a 5:1 mix of water:Ospho. I accidentally got some Ospho on the bottom one year and it inhibited hard growth in that area. I’ve fooled with it off and on but this year whipped it on the whole bottom. Been in about 3 months. I laid in St Martin, Marigo Bay for 2 of those. I had light soft growth that sloughed off on a short day sail. Bottom now looks clean. I’ve had to scrape the dingy twice in the meantime.

So I anyone else wants to try it I’d like to hear their experience.

Mind you I’m not recommending. Just saying.

[Cheechako]

I liked the story. It seems what many of us have experienced.
Cleaning your bottom often will keep the bottom clean. Bottom paint wont. (Well, it might in cold water northern climes where stuff doesn't grow much. Never compared that area with no paint at all) Been saying it for a long time. Yet we still put on bottom paint. I get it, but I also could understand a logic that maybe spending a couple thousand on paint. should just be spent on a diver. :>)

[sailorboy1]

There doesn't appear to be rules. I travelled the same basic route the first year of the paint and the third year of it. The paint performed better the third year after it had worn down. The problem with bottom paint for cruisers is that you go into so many different types of waters.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

I get it, but I also could understand a logic that maybe spending a couple thousand on paint. should just be spent on a diver.

I can tell you from decades of personal, real-world experience that even in an area of moderate fouling (like San Francisco Bay), you cannot realistically clean an unpainted hull often enough to keep the fouling at bay. I typically refuse to take those jobs. I've done two within the last few years however- one was an Andrews 28 that we cleaned twice a week. After about 3 or 4 weeks, we simply couldn't remove the thousands of tiny tenacious algae growth spots that were getting larger and more numerous by the day. The owner finally put the boat on a trailer. The other was a Pacific 52 that we cleaned every other day for a month and a half. During that time, the boat was hauled twice for a reapplication of the McLube Speed Polish, which of course included a pressure wash. And even that was barely enough to keep the hull growth-free.

Anti fouling paint combined with regular cleaning is an absolute necessity.

[hpeer]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

There doesn't appear to be rules. I travelled the same basic route the first year of the paint and the third year of it. The paint performed better the third year after it had worn down. The problem with bottom paint for cruisers is that you go into so many different types of waters.

That’s what I was getting at. Especially if you move around a lot.

Our small boat lives in Newfoundland. Hardly any growth.

[MarkSF]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Last week just prior to going into the yard to do a bottom job I motored at max throttle and noted the speed. Yesterday after doing the bottom I did it again and noted the speed. I picked up 0.3 knots for the $1980 I spent on my bare new 100% growth free and clean prop/shaft.

That's not a very good test as you are approaching hull speed, so the drag from the rough bottom is becoming a less significant factor.


A better test would be at light throttle or under sail on a light wind day, when the drag from wetted area is the dominant factor.



I've noticed when I have new paint, a dramatic difference in speed when I'm coming into or out of the marina, which I do just above idle engine speed (1K RPM). It can be 4 knots instead of under 3.

[Jezzrow22]

Thanks SB1 for the story, this thread seems to be getting combative when, to me , it is actually a good read and helpful to a novice wannabe future cruiser like myself.

[George DuBose]

There was a East Hampton marine patrol officer who lived on his powerboat all summer and stored it in the water over the winter. He never used his boat during the summer and I once asked him how he kept his bottom clean.

Interlux Micron. He told me he painted the bottom every five years.

While Micron is one of the most expensive bottom paints, the fact that one doesn't have to paint the bottom every spring, brings some savings.

I keep my boat on the IJsselmeer in The Netherlands, which is freshwater. Every summer, I take a 5-6 week cruise around Europe in saltwater. I think I have seen five barnacles in 10 years. I have left my boat in the water for two years and the bottom was only covered in some slime that washed off easily.

I guess that going from fresh to saltwater kills anything that had attached itself to the hull and then coming back into the freshwater kills anything that had attached itself to the hull while I was cruising.

Just my two cents...

[Lloyd Farrand]

Thank you for the story sailorboy1. I live in NZ and keep our boat in a tidal estuary. The growth is faster in the summer as expected.
I found reading your experience interesting and perhaps now think I should extend my paint timetable from 12 monthly to 24 monthly