Environmentally friendly bottom paint??

[henry hey]

Hi,

I have been digging into my winter yard work and one of the items on my list is bottom paint. I would love to know if anyone is aware of a bottom paint that is environmentally friendly (or at least more friendly) and still effective.

Please let me know your thoughts.

You can see some of my progress here:

http://henryhey.com/boatyard.html

and please don't forget the slowly growing flickr photo group. You just have to sign up for flickr (it's free) and then you can post photos. Please share your pride and joy.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/capedory/


thanks,

henry

[Carl Thunberg]

Henry,
Sorry, I can't help out on an environmentally friendly bottom paint. I did, however, take a look at your website and the flickr photo group. Your boat looks great. I noticed your CD25 has eyebrows. I think Mary Ellen also had eyebrows, but mine doesn't. I'm just curious if anyone knows what date Cape Dory added the eyebrows? Did it happen at the same time they switched from blue decks to beige and added the bronze port lights?
Carl

[henry hey]

Hey Carl,

Thanks for the compliment on the boat. I wish that I could take credit for her nice condition -- she was in pretty nice shape when I got her a few months ago thanks to the love of the POs. I did manage to track down the original owner (who bought her new in 79). It was an interesting story. He went to the Annapolis boat show to talk to the cape dory people and told them that he would buy a 25 if they would give it bronze ports like the bigger boats. He also requested a larger freshwater tank and a second support arch inside under the mast.

They called him back and told him they would do it.

Evidentally, my CD25 is the very first one with bronze ports.

I will be seeing that original owner this summer as I plan to sail up to maine with my friend aboard his Shannon 38 (also not a shabby vessel). We have plans to rendezvous with this original owner in Belfast Maine. (I had written bristol before and then realized it was incorrect).

I will ask him about the eyebrows.

-henry

[Cathy Monaghan]

There are some supposedly "earth friendly" water-based antifoulants out there that contain neither copper nor TBT (or at least less of it). Here are a few:

ePaint 2000:
CLICK HERE
and
CLICK HERE

Interlux Fiberglass Bottomkote Aqua:
CLICK HERE

Pettit Hydrocoat:
CLICK HERE

SeaHawk Monterey:
CLICK HERE

[M. R. Bober]

Environmentally friendly biocides???? Oximoron?

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Annapolis (where pessimism never works), MD

[Carter Brey]

Henry,

nice photos. I checked out your progress last Monday while I was out winterizing Delphine (on the hard about 15 paces to the NE). That wood will come out really nice.

CB

[Will Wheatley]

I keep getting e-mails from Aurora Marine and they have a product that they say is what you may be looking for called "VS721 Bottom Wax"
I have not used it yet but I was also hoping to use a non-toxic bottom paint this year. I would contact them before buying to make sure it is intended for boats that stay in the water but it may be the thing.

www.auroramarine.com

I also read recently about a non-toxic bottom paint that the military has been using for many years that is finally being released to the public. I can't remember which of the many publications I get had this info but I will try to find it. Perhaps a google search would help. I know I saved the publication but my filing system is less than ideal. The two things I remember from the article was that it lasts for two or three years and it is very expensive. Could be worth it though.
I get Practiclal Sailor, Spin Sheet, Chesapeake Bay and Sail magazines and often have a few others around but that may help if you decide to search for this.

[ray b]

the black sub paint is very very toxic
a buddy got some somehow [don't ask!!]
the cans warned againt swimming near a vessel
that had the paint on it !!!!!

[henry hey]

Hi,

I have pretty much decided that I will use E-paint.

http://tinyurl.com/yjvwt8

I read a few different reviews -- including this year's practical sailor.

It might interest you all to know that the two top-rated paints there are both water-based.

E-paint doesn't fair too badly, and it did even better a few years ago when the practical sailor's review was weighted a little differently. . something about static time in the water verses moving time. I spoke to a guy at Jamestown distributers about e-paint today. He had good things to say including the fact that the coast guard has been using e-paint for years.

Anyway. . The 'green guy' in me pulls me toward e-paint because it is by far the nicest to the water in which I sail. I'll let you all know about the results at the end of next season. And if I get a little scum on the bottom of the boat during the season. . it just gives me an excuse to take a swim and do a quick cleanup.

hh

[Joe Myerson]

Henry,
E-paint is, in fact, the environmentally friendly bottom paint that was origiinally designed for the U.S. Navy and is also used by the Coast Guard.

I haven't tried it on my Cape Dory yet. I tried an evaluation can when I was looking for a way to paint the bottom of my plastic dinghy (Walker Bay).

It peeled off in sheets, but at least, I was assured, the sheets weren't contributing to environmental degradation.

--Joe

[henry hey]

Ah yes.. your very expensive dinghy paint (that stuff is not cheap) is resting inertly somewhere on the bottom of some waterway.

I assume that it will not peel off in sheets from the bottom of a fiberglass boat. I would think that were this the case there would be some wind about it online (which I have found none).

Anyone out there tried this stuff?

h

[Joe Myerson]

Henry,
No, the stuff doesn't peel off fiberglass, I'm told.
And, fortunately, I didn't pay for the sample. I was supposed to be evaluating it. The performance was so bad, I just dropped the whole matter.
--Joe

[Dick Barthel]

Henry,
E-paint is, in fact, the environmentally friendly bottom paint that was origiinally designed for the U.S. Navy and is also used by the Coast Guard.

I haven't tried it on my Cape Dory yet. I tried an evaluation can when I was looking for a way to paint the bottom of my plastic dinghy (Walker Bay).

It peeled off in sheets, but at least, I was assured, the sheets weren't contributing to environmental degradation.

--Joe

Joe, I don't think anything sticks to the Walker Bay bottom at least as far as I've found. I've even call the manufacturer and they didn't know of any magic application. The good news is that the barnacles scrap off pretty easy too.

Dick

Dick