Bottom Paint

[Bill DeCamp]

I would appreciate any feedback on bottom paint preformance.I know what works in say the S.E. Florida waters may not work over on the West coast etc. I plan to try Pettit Trinidad SR has anyone tried it? And does the slimacide work.What about ACP-50? or Interlux Ultra Coat.



tocoiriverrats@aol.com

[Ken Cave]

Great article in this month's Practical Sailor on all the bottom paints that can be readily purchased on the open market.

Gives you all the information that you need to know, and, then some!

Ken Cave



bcave@whidbey.net

[John R]

I would appreciate any feedback on bottom paint preformance.I know what works in say the S.E. Florida waters may not work over on the West coast etc. I plan to try Pettit Trinidad SR has anyone tried it? And does the slimacide work.What about ACP-50? or Interlux Ultra Coat.

Bill,

I'm on Floridas SW coast and our 30 has had Ultra Kote the last couple of bottom paintings. It performs extremely well for my particular situation. The boat is docked in a 90' canal and is scrubbed clean by a diver about 3 times a year. The boat's port side is exposed to direct sun at the waterline during the a.m. and that is all. The starboard side is virtually shaded all day due to shadows from some nearby trees and the dock. The canal is a dead end and so water flow is limited to only wind and tide changes. No continuous flowing currents containing lots of marine life. The port side of the boat does see more fouling due to the sun exposure than the starboard side. However it is minimal. Any barnacles, which are few and very small are usually near the bottom of the keel, the canal is shallow. The waterline develops a minimal slime coat over a few months if not cleaned. The paint holds up very well. Painting has been every 2-3 years. The canal is located up river from the Gulf but is heavily salt, virtually the same as the Gulf. The Ultra Kote performs quite good in this enviroment from my experience and I will be using it again. Prior to that I'd used Trinidad, close but not quite as good in my situation. Before that Micron 33, amazing performance but no longer legal or available.

There are lots of excellent paints on the market and as you know the trick is determining what will perform best in a given geographical area and boat situation. You need to be specific about where the boat will be and ask folks in that locale what seems to perform the best. You also need to take into consideration how the boat will be used. The more it is used the less growth build-up you will have than a boat that sits for extended periods no matter what the paint used.

I am looking forward to see how the new and upcoming Micron Optima will perform in these tropical waters later this year.

I would venture to say that you should be able to expect similar results between Ultra Kote and Trinidad with some variations depending on all the above factors. Cost is about the same. I would skip the ACP-50, ablative (sloughing) paints are going to be outlawed from what I hear. Why start using something that has a limited future? Just stick to what the locals are using and what has been proven to work.

In it's latest issue Practical Sailor reviews many paints but I can tell you from experience that many of the paints they list as excellent are dismal failures as far as anti-fouling performance is concerned in these southern waters. They would be far better off doing their tests where the worst fouling occurs.

[Warren Kaplan]

In it's latest issue Practical Sailor reviews many paints but I can tell you from experience that many of the paints they list as excellent are dismal failures as far as anti-fouling performance is concerned in these southern waters. They would be far better off doing their tests where the worst fouling occurs.

John,
I think they did the test up in my neck of the woods, the Northeast, just off Niantic Connecticut, in Long Island Sound. I suspect, as you have observed, that the results of the testing would be more useful to me up here then you people further south.



Setsail728@aol.com

[Bill]

Bill

I just pulled my 25D 3 weeks ago. She has been in a fresh/warm (during summer months) body of water for 3 1/2 yrs. I am impressed with the Trinidad paint I used in '97. It has a small layer of slime and nothing else. We have Zebra mussles here and there was not one on the boat. Furthermore, the paint looked pretty good for 3 yr old paint. I'll be using it again.

Bill

I would appreciate any feedback on bottom paint preformance.I know what works in say the S.E. Florida waters may not work over on the West coast etc. I plan to try Pettit Trinidad SR has anyone tried it? And does the slimacide work.What about ACP-50? or Interlux Ultra Coat.

cd25d@rhapsoydsails.com

[Art]

Power boat reports gives Pettit acp 50 a great review.They have several pices of fiberglass under salt water in a bay & have been keeping an eye on it for a few years. I have used it with good results. But this last summer I used Copperpoxy also highly rated by power boat reports on my 28 cd flybr. I love it because if you just clean the botom you do not have to renew it for at least 10 years! My bottom looks as good as when I did it almost one year ago Art



Kearconner@aol.com

[M. R. Bober]

I have used Trinidad (non-SR) for the last few years with good results, here in the Chesapeake. I am curious as to what "extra" protection the SR provides?
Mitchell Bober
RESPITE
CD330

[Ken Cave]

The SR stands for Slime Resistant-and this stuff really works!! My diver (I have the bottom checked out every other month) states that the Trinidad SR should last about four years before I have to pull the boat and have it redone.

Now, I live in the northwest where the water is COOOOLD most all year.
This might also be a factor but a lot of boats in the marina seem to be "growing" to the bottom due to disuse!

Ken Cave
Cape Dory 28 Dragon Tale
Anacortes, WA.



bcave@whidbey.net