Longest Lasting, Best Bottom Paint on the Market for Faster Boats

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Joli

Bottom paint choice depends on the use of the boat, how it's stored and where it'll be sailed. Bottom paint can be anything from hard and smooth with little or no anti fouling property to very soft ablatives with high copper content. We currently use ablative because we don't want paint build up but when we were racing we used very hard paints that could be polished. All paints need maintenance to keep them working, some more then others.

Best to ask the locals what they recommend.

I am a local. Lol

I’m going home finally.

I use the west marine paint. Ablative. 70% copper solid. Just Pettit with a different tag on it.

I usually get 3 to 4 years out of it without hauling out. It’s looking pretty rough by the end of that time. I don’t do any maintenance on the paint whatsoever once it’s in the water.

I don’t think they sell that anymore.

I made the thread to find out about new things that I don’t know about. Also to see how to deal with that difference regarding higher speed boats. It seems to wear down the ablative faster.

[fxykty]

We use a hard ablative: two coats all over and two more on the bows, waterlines and skegs/rudders. You can dry wall knife it (I use plastic blades) to remove sheets of slime, or use a plastic scrubbing pad. That’s my favourite when there’s low fouling: it nicely refreshes the top layer of paint. There’s almost no visible paint residue in the water even scrubbing hard. FWIW, we use a commercial low/medium duty paint from Jotun: SeaQuantum Ultra S https://www.jotun.com/au-en/industri...uantum-Ultra-S. Seems to work well in the SE Pacific.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by fxykty

We use a hard ablative: two coats all over and two more on the bows, waterlines and skegs/rudders. You can dry wall knife it (I use plastic blades) to remove sheets of slime, or use a plastic scrubbing pad. That’s my favourite when there’s low fouling: it nicely refreshes the top layer of paint. There’s almost no visible paint residue in the water even scrubbing hard. FWIW, we use a commercial low/medium duty paint from Jotun: SeaQuantum Ultra S https://www.jotun.com/au-en/industri...uantum-Ultra-S. Seems to work well in the SE Pacific.

Thank you!!! There’s a new one I hadn’t considered before. Perfect!

[s/v Jedi]

I also have a trick/tip: often you get most of the growth just under the waterline, where there is most light.

If you have these overpriced deck brushes with click on/off system (Shurhold?) they have a telescoping handle and also an angled adapter. I lash the taping knife to that angled adapter because I never found any other use for it and now it is usable from deck

Edit: this thing: https://shurhold.com/products/curved-adapter

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I also have a trick/tip: often you get most of the growth just under the waterline, where there is most light.

If you have these overpriced deck brushes with click on/off system (Shurhold?) they have a telescoping handle and also an angled adapter. I lash the taping knife to that angled adapter because I never found any other use for it and now it is usable from deck

Edit: this thing: https://shurhold.com/products/curved-adapter

A little off topic, but something for you as well:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-IUMCyAR6U0

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

I also have a trick/tip: often you get most of the growth just under the waterline, where there is most light.

If you have these overpriced deck brushes with click on/off system (Shurhold?) they have a telescoping handle and also an angled adapter. I lash the taping knife to that angled adapter because I never found any other use for it and now it is usable from deck

Edit: this thing: https://shurhold.com/products/curved-adapter

That curved adapter looks like a really handy thing! I usually clean around the waterline either in the water with a sponge (if it's warm enough to swim) or from the dock and/or dinghy with a soft bristled deck brush. The angled adapter would definitely make it easier by letting me do more from on the boat, although I still can't go the forward 1/3 (as with a 6 foot handle I'll run out of length to reach unless I'm laying on the deck with my arms over the side, the boat is too tall).

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

That curved adapter looks like a really handy thing! I usually clean around the waterline either in the water with a sponge (if it's warm enough to swim) or from the dock and/or dinghy with a soft bristled deck brush. The angled adapter would definitely make it easier by letting me do more from on the boat, although I still can't go the forward 1/3 (as with a 6 foot handle I'll run out of length to reach unless I'm laying on the deck with my arms over the side, the boat is too tall).

You need the telescoping handle!

[bdgWesternMass]

Originally Posted by Chotu

10” drywall taping knife sounds perfect!

I might even have one aboard from the build, although the handle is about 3-4 inches in diameter from no one ever cleaning that part of it when we built the boat. Ha ha. They only clean the blade. I’ll have to post a pic. It’s ridiculous. A 3-4” handle of bog.

Hello Chotu I have been curious and this seems like as good as any place to ask...

When your epoxy allergy developed were you using a particular formula/brand of epoxy? I want to do some research on epoxies and I'm wondering what your experience was like. If you have written up the story elsewhere just point me to it.

Thanks,
Ben

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by bdgWesternMass

Hello Chotu I have been curious and this seems like as good as any place to ask...

When your epoxy allergy developed were you using a particular formula/brand of epoxy? I want to do some research on epoxies and I'm wondering what your experience was like. If you have written up the story elsewhere just point me to it.

Thanks,
Ben

No problem, Ben. I’ll let you know about it here.

There is no particular brand. I don’t believe any of that marketing. If any epoxy has aliphatic amine hardener, that’s the substance that causes the reactions.

And that includes every single epoxy there is pretty much.

The main thing to watch out for is not to be fooled. Epoxy doesn’t smell. It doesn’t give off a big stink like polyester or vinyl ester. So you are easily lulled into thinking it’s not a big deal to be breathing it. It is a very big deal.

Everyone gets a certain amount of exposure before they start having a reaction. The only problem is no one knows how much exposure they have been allotted without a reaction. It could happen in an hour. It could happen in 15 years. You don’t know.

So the best way to prevent the situation is to avoid all exposure.

Don’t get it on your hands. Don’t breathe it. Don’t get it on your skin at all.

That way if you only have a year or a month of exposure before your body goes crazy, you won’t use up that year or month because you won’t be exposed at all.

[bdgWesternMass]

Originally Posted by Chotu

No problem, Ben. I’ll let you know about it here.

There is no particular brand. I don’t believe any of that marketing. If any epoxy has aliphatic amine hardener, that’s the substance that causes the reactions.

And that includes every single epoxy there is pretty much.

The main thing to watch out for is not to be fooled. Epoxy doesn’t smell. It doesn’t give off a big stink like polyester or vinyl ester. So you are easily lulled into thinking it’s not a big deal to be breathing it. It is a very big deal.

Everyone gets a certain amount of exposure before they start having a reaction. The only problem is no one knows how much exposure they have been allotted without a reaction. It could happen in an hour. It could happen in 15 years. You don’t know.

So the best way to prevent the situation is to avoid all exposure.

Don’t get it on your hands. Don’t breathe it. Don’t get it on your skin at all.

That way if you only have a year or a month of exposure before your body goes crazy, you won’t use up that year or month because you won’t be exposed at all.

Thank you for sharing. I'm sorry you had to experience and I guess I should start to make up for 30ish years of neglectful use. I have gotten better in the last 5...

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by bdgWesternMass

Thank you for sharing. I'm sorry you had to experience and I guess I should start to make up for 30ish years of neglectful use. I have gotten better in the last 5...

Maybe I should have stated some thing a little differently. It’s how many hours you have before your body goes crazy. Hours of exposure.

So over 30 years depending on how many boats you have built, you may or may not have that many hours exposure.

Probably could have phrased that a little bit better

[MicHughV]

Each to his own. I have experimented with a variety of bottom paints, with a variety of results, but finally settled on Pettit Trinidad as the best bottom paint for me. Typically put two coats on at haulout time, giving me a good two, sometimes three year service life.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by s/v Jedi

You need the telescoping handle!

How long do they extend to? My current ones telescope, but only to 6 feet (and the deck is almost that far off the water at the bow).

[s/v Jedi]

Originally Posted by rslifkin

How long do they extend to? My current ones telescope, but only to 6 feet (and the deck is almost that far off the water at the bow).

There’s a 6’ but also a 9’ handle.

[bdgWesternMass]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Maybe I should have stated some thing a little differently. It’s how many hours you have before your body goes crazy. Hours of exposure.

So over 30 years depending on how many boats you have built, you may or may not have that many hours exposure.

Probably could have phrased that a little bit better

30 years of making things that sometimes used epoxy and used minimum caution so I feel I could be due.

I knew what you meant. I haven’t built a single boat yet. After reading your story I thought I would give it a go.