VC 17 bottom paint cruising for season in Florida

[Jerry Clark H356 SV Persi]

I'm thinking about taking our 356 down to Charlotte Harbor for the winter from Kentucky Lake. I need a bottom paint job this winter and use VC 17 at Kentucky Lake. My question, is for those of you who cruise from fresh to salt water and back, is should I put on new bottom paint before or after I return from salt water?

I have heard that the salt water will kill the fresh water algae that will be minimal when I get to the Gulf and that returning to fresh water will cause the stuff that grows/attaches in salt water to fall off. What happens in the real world and what do you do?

I know VC17 is not good in salt water.

 

[Nodak7]

I'm thinking about taking our 356 down to Charlotte Harbor for the winter from Kentucky Lake. I need a bottom paint job this winter and use VC 17 at Kentucky Lake. My question, is for those of you who cruise from fresh to salt water and back, is should I put on new bottom paint before or after I return from salt water?

I have heard that the salt water will kill the fresh water algae that will be minimal when I get to the Gulf and that returning to fresh water will cause the stuff that grows/attaches in salt water to fall off. What happens in the real world and what do you do?

I know VC17 is not good in salt water.

Jerry, I am in the process of doing the same thing and investigated a bottom paint for our boat before we launch it in Charlotte Harbor. As a matter of fact there are a number of threads on this very subject.

Anyway we have VC-17 on our bottom right now. After some investigation and discussion with the "expert" at Pettit Paint I was told that you can apply their Hyrocoat SR over the VC-17 paint without having to totally remove the VC-17. I am not certain how long the VC-17 will stand up to a salt water environment but if you are going to be there for the entire winter you might want to consider changing bottom paint.

 

[Roger Long]

I've used VC 17M in Maine since 2005 and on two trips down the ICW to FL/GA and back and found it quite satisfactory. I painted the boat in Portland last August and the rudder still looks clean and I've only lost about 1/8 knot of speed. I like the easy prep and application.

I cruise constantly and any paint; especially a semi-ablative like VC 17 works best when the boat moves a lot. You may have a different experience if you are using the boat weekends only.

I did have pretty impressive growth last summer but I sat for most of the month of July and I think 80-90% of it grew in that last few weeks.

I don't see any reason why you should change until you've given it a try for a year.

 

[fstbttms]

VC 17 works fine in saltwater. That is not the issue. The issue is that it is only suitable for low-fouling conditions, like those found in a freshwater lake. The fouling conditions you find in Florida are likely to overwhelm a VC 17 bottom very quickly.

 

[ironhors42]

I have my boat in St.Peterburg, Florida. Last year I painted my boat bottom with Pettit Ultimate Plus 60 ablative paint which compare to VC-17 or little better. I put three coat of this paint over Tridad Sr hard paint after sanding the whole bottom. My bottom of my boat paint is holding up very good, better than I ever thought it would, or lasted this long in salt water. It has now been 13 months. My diver wanted to know what paint I use because it holding up so well and hardly need cleaning because of hardly any barnacle on bottom or rudder. But I do have trouble with barnacle on the shaft and prop, where my boat is park in slip there is not lots of current or fast water movement and I think that keep barnacle at bay. I really happy with the stuff I use on the bottom. I hope it last for another two years until next haul out again. I try to use my boat at least once a week or more to keep engine use and make sure all parts get movement.

 

[Jerry Clark H356 SV Persi]

Thanks for the comments. I plan on bringing it back to Kentucky Lake in March, so I may just pull it and pressure wash it for the trip down, have divers keep it clean in Florida, and repaint when I get back. Roger - sounds like your trips. Do you agree with this?

 

[Sumner]

The key might be "the winter". We have Sea Hawk Cukote wih the bioBoost ...

http://www.bottompaintstore.com/cukote-selfpolishing-bottom-paint-p-9471.html

.... which is a harder ablative, on the Mac and nothing on the dinghy that is in the water all the time also.

In a month in the water Nov./Dec. we had no growth on either, maybe a touch on the dinghy.

Then in the spring for 2 months (Mar./Apr.) we had maybe 50 barnacles about 1/8th inch on the Mac and didn't clean the bottom in that time. The dinghy with no paint was....

...covered like above 3 times in the 2 months and we had to clean her 3 times. This was from Charlotte Harbor down to Marathon and then north. In the fall it was just Charlotte Harbor.

If you are going to have someone dive on it monthly I'd be temped to try what you have if it was say Nov. to March.

We have the Cukote on the Endeavour also since it will be out of the water more than in it.

Where are you keeping the boat in Charlotte Harbor? I'd also add that March/April are my favorite months there. Nice temps. It can get cold, upper 30's and 40's in Dec-Feb. If you are in a marina with shore power and a space heater then it isn't that much of a problem,

Sum

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[higgs]

I am a long time VC 17 user. I have heard it is not so good in warmer waters. I think your plan sounds good. If you are returning to Kentucky you don't want to have to switch bottom pain twice.

 

[Jerry Clark H356 SV Persi]

Sumner: I plan on keeping the boat at Fisherman's Village, but will be out cruising most of the time when there. I've sailed out of Charlotte Harbor a lot with charter and friends from our home area who have houses there. It is a great place to sail! We usually go to Key West each winter from there, so very familiar with the west Florida coast and Key West. I took a Cabo Rico 38 from KY Lake to Punta Gorda in 2007.

Higgs: If i go this year, I will be there from late November though February and start back to Kentucky Lake in early March. I don't plan on changing paint for such a short time and think I will just stay with my current 2 year old VC 17 and repaint with VC17 when I get back in the spring.

 

[Sailm8]

I live and sail on Charlotte Harbor and use Trinidad SR. It was on the boat when I bought it over 3 years ago. The diver just told me it was time to paint but I'm waiting until August. The reason, we just returned from a mini loop trip that included Boot Key and other places in the keys. I think we picked up 90% of the stuff in Boot key. I want to hear what he says after cleaning in July back in our home waters.