How's Your Bottom Doing These Days ?

Jan 4, 2006
6,444
Hunter 310 West Vancouver, B.C.
I’m on season 6 with my bottom paint that the previous owner applied. I wish I would have written the brand down when he told me.
Probably worth hiring a private dick to track him down and get his story when you think of the cost of a full haul out to bottom paint every other year if your NEW bottom paint doesn't have the longevity of the last painting.
 
  • Like
Likes: MikeHoncho
Oct 24, 2010
2,405
Hunter 30 Everett, WA
We keep our boat in the Everett Marina which is brackish water. It's not uncommon to get a thin layer of ice on top of the water in the winter. Our boat sits now coated with micron 66. When we haul the boat, the marina requires that the marina do the pressure washing over a water handling system for environmental reasons. When they do, it generally takes most of the bottom paint off or at least a large amount of it. Therefore each time I haul I repaint. The longest I have gone is 3 years and at that point the zincs were falling off. Barney goes on the prop we're slowing us down, and the shaft had barnacles but of course that's a little concern. I think I could get more life out of my bottom paint if it weren't for the high pressure of the pressure washing system. Last time I pulled the boat out it had only been in the water two years but the problem was I had a broken shaft strut and needed to pull it out for that purpose. I did have a diver change my zincs last year and I think I'll hire him again to change them this year and inspect. We are not allowed to clean alebative paint in the water in Washington.
 
Jan 4, 2006
6,444
Hunter 310 West Vancouver, B.C.
When they do, it generally takes most of the bottom paint off or at least a large amount of it.
Thanks Ken. I think that's where the major portion of my Micron CSC was going to with the pressure washing each year. The pressure wash water (say that quickly three times) under the boat was bright blue. The CSC only lasted two years until the black warning coat was showing through. The current WM bottom coat I'm using seems more resistant to the pressure washing. Wash water under the boat has light traces of blue.
 
Last edited:
Nov 13, 2013
723
Catalina 34 Tacoma
Does anyone move their boat from salt water to fresh water? I'm close to Seattle and was thinking if I moved my boat into fresh water maybe that would kill the saltwater growth but don't know how long that would take.
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,989
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
thinking if I moved my boat into fresh water maybe that would kill the saltwater growth but don't know how long that would take.
The simple answer is yes. You will kill saltwater growing bottom critters in fresh water environment. Not sure how long it will take. I suspect how many saltwater creatures / growth you are carrying on your bottom would be a factor. One question pops into my thinking. Some of these creatures are quite adaptive. Would you be providing an opportunity for an evolutionary change.
 

dLj

.
Mar 23, 2017
3,370
Belliure 41 Sailing back to the Chesapeake
The simple answer is yes. You will kill saltwater growing bottom critters in fresh water environment. Not sure how long it will take. I suspect how many saltwater creatures / growth you are carrying on your bottom would be a factor. One question pops into my thinking. Some of these creatures are quite adaptive. Would you be providing an opportunity for an evolutionary change.
The other problem is even if they are dead, it doesn't clean you bottom. Dead does not mean gone. Cleaning the bottom is removing growth. Not exactly related to alive or dead.

dj
 

capta

.
Jun 4, 2009
4,766
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
Finally, I'm not getting any growth at all on the bottom of our boat. I guess that's because she's high and dry, in storage. She wouldn't be, but I can't find a summer slip I can afford around here. lol
I've either tried or talked to folks who have used every antifouling paint available these days, and found them all lacking in their basic function: antifouling.
 
  • Ha
Likes: jssailem
Jan 4, 2006
6,444
Hunter 310 West Vancouver, B.C.
I've either tried or talked to folks who have used every antifouling paint available these days, and found them all lacking in their basic function: antifouling.
You live the life in paradise, you pay the price.

You live your life up here in the cold north .................meh, not so bad :huh: .
 

RoyS

.
Jun 3, 2012
1,739
Hunter 33 Steamboat Wharf, Hull, MA
There was a Steinbeck novel, "Cannery Row" maybe? where some hobo lived in a boat that was always up on stands, high and dry. One of the other hobos would amuse himself by gluing barnacles to the boat's hull. So watch for that.
 

YVRguy

.
Jan 10, 2013
479
Hunter 34 Vancouver, BC
Sorry I'm late to the party. We repaint the bottom every two years at Granville Island. Ashamed to admit I don't ask what brand/type the bottom paint is, I just pay the bill. This cadence seems to be about right.
 
  • Like
Likes: jssailem