Recommendations for ablative paint

[CarlF]

You’ll find a lot of people who consider Micron 66 the best ablative - including me. The extra cost is insignificant because most of the cost is hauling, prep and labor. if you can get another year between paintings - you save a lot. Of course, boat yards love you to a paint every year (and they generally get the business in seasonal New England)

There are too cautions to Micron 66

1- it can be quickly scrubbed off by aN aggressive diver using a brush. A wipe with a cloth is usually enough (and only wipe the areas that need it)

2- it can not spend much time in brackish/fresh water or it will fail and have to be removed. This means no staying in Washington DC. Even Jacksonville is risky. I never had problems with Micron 66 on the ICW but I didn’t get slips where the water might not be salty enough.

I switched to Micron Extra last year which doesn't have the fresh water issue. So far it’s doing as well as 66 but almost any ablative will do well for a year.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by CarlF

You’ll find a lot of people who consider Micron 66 the best ablative - including me.

And me.

Originally Posted by CarlF

...it can be quickly scrubbed off by aN aggressive diver using a brush. A wipe with a cloth is usually enough (and only wipe the areas that need it)

The cleaning media used by a diver (aggressive or otherwise) is completely dependent upon the amount of fouling on the paint. You cannot make a blanket statement about using cloths (or anything else.) A Micron 66 bottom that hasn't been cleaned in a couple of months where I work is NOT going to be cleaned with a cloth. But a conscientious boat owner understands that his Micron 66 bottom will provide maximum performance and longevity when cleaned relatively frequently (and therefore gently.)

[TideTime]

I agree with "SeaMonkey", one of the best multi-season ablative paints is Pettit's Ultima SR 60. As for a hard bottom paint, you can not beat Pettit's Trinidad, particularly in the area you will be sailing. I used Pettit Trinidad for a number of years then switched to an ablative paint (Pettit Ultima SR 40). You can apply an ablative paint over a hard paint without extensive preparation, but not the opposite. Actually, if boat's bottom is properly maintained you should not have a problem with paint build-up using a hard bottom paint. Both Ultima SR 60 (ablative) and Trinidad (hard) are expensive but well worth it. If I had it to do over I would have stuck with Pettit Trinidad which I believe has been the best bottom paint on the market for years.

[Disailor]

I get good results from "Underdog" from www.jamestowndistributors.com (free shipping, too)

[Marc C]

Originally Posted by SeaSail

Hi, I've checked the posts and found some good discussions regarding SeaHawk Biocop TF and Micron 66. My boatyard here in Tampa Bay is recommending one of these for their standard bottom paint job: Pettit HRT, Blue Water AF45, or SeaHawk AF33. As these are lower cost paints per gallon than the two in prior posts, I would appreciate any thoughts on which of these three might be a good choice for a SW FL sailboat. Are the premium paints (e.g., Micron/Biocop) really worth the extra $? Thanks for your thoughts.

I hauled out this past summer after 7 years. I have the bottom wiped once a mount in the summer season. The bottom had Micron 66 on it. Their was no baronial. The price is high but seven years...wow.

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by Marc C

I hauled out this past summer after 7 years. I have the bottom wiped once a mount in the summer season. The bottom had Micron 66 on it. Their was no baronial. The price is high but seven years...wow.

Where does your boat live?

[skipgundlach]

Now that I'm back at my computer I can be a bit more expansive.

Movement determines efficacy of any ablative. Never move and most will accumulate whatever the local fauna are.

We have passed the 7 year mark on our top color; most of it now has the next color showing, but that's only been on the last year or so.

That's because we sit far more than we'd like in a horribly fecund area (Vero Beach FL ICW) - but when we have it dived just before we leave, typically to the Bahamas, it's squeaky clean as long as we continue moving.

That's the Sherwin Williams slow-moving-boat cited in the above stories.

We're about to embark on a Bahamas trip involving much movement there as well as the movement to get there and back; later, we hope to do an offshore to ME and then hop coastally until we get back to St. Augustine for the SSCA annual meeting.

Of course, time will tell, but I'd bet that we have little to no growth on what by that time will be well over 7 years on our paint.

I rather like the stuff, even though it's orders of magnitude less expensive!

[fstbttms]

I find it amusing when boat owners claim extremely long working lifespans for their anti fouling paints. 7+ years is well beyond anything in my professional experience for any paint, much less an ablative. I would love to know what the divers of these boats actually think about it.

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

I find it amusing when boat owners claim extremely long working lifespans for their anti fouling paints. 7+ years is well beyond anything in my professional experience for any paint, much less an ablative. I would love to know what the divers of these boats actually think about it.

Well, as it's me other than in the godawful water in Vero, see above.

On the occasions when we've sat for a month, or had at most an hour of movement in random periods widely spaced, my practice is to run up on a steep sand bank in early-falling tide, get out my hookah, mask and LOTS of weight (to keep me stuck to the bottom), and my long handled deck brush.

Over I go, and for however long it takes me to sweep the bottom, I take off the slime which has accumulated. The very few hard bodies I find pop right off with a clump from the brush body.

The tide comes back in and we float off...

In Vero, we only get dived when we leave. That often involves many months at rest. It takes longer, because there are oysters and barnacles for the diver to scrape. But the infrequency of that has also meant that not a lot of paint comes off (exposing fresh paint and ergo, new copper) between travels, so growth develops.

Once clean, and a new surface exposed, when we move, we're clean. Now that most of the area has undercoat (same stuff, different color, same amount as the top coat) showing, we'll do another job when we next come out of the water (ETA next fall after the SSCA GAM in St. Augustine). By that time I'd be very surprised - especially with the cleaning AND travel in between - to find much, if any, original top color, other than maybe at the waterline areas where, if it's not been IN the water, hasn't had growth.

Was that responsive to your question?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

Was that responsive to your question?

Yes, but it begs another question: Are you under the impression that as long as there is paint on the hull, it is providing anti fouling protection? Because that is not the case. Your paint (in addition to ablating as water moves past the hull) is leaching its biocide 24/7/365, much as a hard paint does. This occurs whether or not the boat is moving and whether or not the bottom is being cleaned. And no paint carries enough biocide to do this for seven years or more.

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

Yes, but it begs another question: Are you under the impression that as long as there is paint on the hull, it is providing anti fouling protection? Because that is not the case. Your paint (in addition to ablating as water moves past the hull) is leaching its biocide 24/7/365, much as a hard paint does. This occurs whether or not the boat is moving and whether or not the bottom is being cleaned. And no paint carries enough biocide to do this for seven years or more.

I guess I'm just lucky, then

Not having taken enough chemistry in college, what is the process which causes copper to migrate to the surface to replace that which wears off or otherwise disappears in paint which carrier (or whatever such paint would be called when the objective is to present copper to the water/surface protected) has not been removed (or has, in your example, seemingly including paint which has ablated new surface areas), and thus is exhausted over time while the carrier remains?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

I guess I'm just lucky, then

Not having taken enough chemistry in college, what is the process which causes copper to migrate to the surface to replace that which wears off or otherwise disappears in paint which carrier (or whatever such paint would be called when the objective is to present copper to the water/surface protected) has not been removed (or has, in your example, seemingly including paint which has ablated new surface areas), and thus is exhausted over time while the carrier remains?

As with hard paints, water penetrates the paint's surface allowing the particulate copper to leach out to the surface of the coating. Now with ablatives, this is not the primary process by which exposing biocide occurs, but it does occur.

[Frankly]

After 50 years of messing with bottom paints (including wonderful $20 gal Sears organo tin, wonderful for bottom not the environment ), I have concluded that the water your yacht floats in is most important. Find out what your neighbors are using and happy with.

Trinidad and then the SR version were the go to hard paint around St Andrews Bay for years then something happened and bottoms were getting fouled in 6 months. I switched to Sea Hawk Tropicoat (used to get 3 to 4 years in the water), last time I let the yard do my bottom and they mistakenly ??? used Cucoat. 1 year and counting and time will tell.

If you do your own bottom also important to shake the Hell out of the paint before application. When I see non uniform fouling of a bottom, I think somebody did not mix that stuff.


Frankly

[skipgundlach]

Originally Posted by fstbttms

As with hard paints, water penetrates the paint's surface allowing the particulate copper to leach out to the surface of the coating. Now with ablatives, this is not the primary process by which exposing biocide occurs, but it does occur.

My apologies for dictation as I am away from my computer send me colon we may find errors surfacing.

Of course that is semi colon like double. With a, on the bottom

Can you tell I detest a dictation?

Anyway, I had a question.

If water penetrates bottom paint, it does not, in fact, protect against blisters as some would have you believe?

[fstbttms]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

If water penetrates bottom paint, it does not, in fact, protect against blisters as some would have you believe?

It does not.