100 Percent Acrylic Bottom Paint Initial Test Results

[Brian S]

Seahorse, thanks for the story! You may be smarter than I am...

I always did boat stuff with my Grandfather. He showed me how he did every project on his runabout, and he taught me to sail. He once told me about this 9" circular saw he had. He said it was a beast, and he shouldn't have bought the big one, because it was too big to whip out for small projects. He said, "I bought that when I had more money than brains." Now I have it, and the only time I used it was to cut 4x4's into 18" lengths to build a log house style tower to support the stern of the boat.

What he said has stuck with me. Most of the time with my boats, I spend like a wealthy man. Sometimes, I just have more money than brains! I have tried to limit myself on the O'day, but there's always important stuff like running rigging that get all the high-tech lines that a non-racing boat just doesn't need. I can't help myself!

I think you should submit an article to Good Old Boat Magazine about how you're trying to do a frugal restoration.

Thank you for sharing!

 

[Jackdaw]

Hey Seahorse,

Just had a look at your nice blog. Noticed that your bow navigation lights are wrong; those new bow fittings are designed to be mounted vertically so the aperture runs fore/aft. Mounted the way you have them they cannot project properly. Could not see a way to respond on the blog without an acccount.

 

[Brian S]

Interesting comments from the simplicityboats article. Hmmm...

As Jackdaw says, the fixtures you used for the red/green bow lights are the wrong fixtures for that orientation. If those fixtures were installed on the sides of the boat, then they would be oriented properly. Note that Seachoice's catalog also calls them "side lights."

 

[Seahorse24]

Thank you, Brian S.

 

[Seahorse24]

Hey Seahorse,

Just had a look at your nice blog. Noticed that your bow navigation lights are wrong; those new bow fittings are designed to be mounted vertically so the aperture runs fore/aft. Mounted the way you have them they cannot project properly. Could not see a way to respond on the blog without an acccount.

Thank you for visiting my blog and noticing that mistake with the navigation lights, Jackdaw. I will correct the lights before we go sailing at night. I really appreciate your helpful advice and also your kind words about my blog.

 

[Brian S]

These Attwood LED deck lights would be the correct orientation: http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?path=-1|65136|2312550|2312557&id=984631

Actually, these lights here at sailboatowners.com look to be a similar form factor with correct horizontal deck mounting to what you have. Look for SBO SKU: 28942, MFG part number: 400165 http://shop.sailboatowners.com/prod.php?14336/Bulk+Stainless+Steel+Dome+Navigation+Lights I would probably call SBO and ask Phil to be sure that you get a left and right one. Going with LED is certainly great for the battery's energy budget, but the Attwood that already has LEDs built in (and hopefully sealed properly) would probably work better than putting an LED bayonet replacement bulb in that Sea Dog fixture. I would be much more concerned about corrosion if you were using the boat in salt water, and bigger seas, as a deck mounting like that on the peak of the bow would certainly pick up a lot of water and spray in any kind of conditions. But you're on a freshwater lake, so...

 

[Seahorse24]

Thank you so much Brian for finding those lights. The MFG part number 400165 are identical to the original lights I took off of the boat, except these new ones are LED. I will order a set to replace the slotted ones I have. I really appreciate you taking the time to find them for me.
Happy Sailing

 

[solosailier]

Thank you for the Latex paint for boat use post. It will help with a painted aluminum boat I have. The interlux paint has gotten too expensive to use. I will try the Latex.

We need someone to try the paint on a boat used in salt water.

Thanks.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Recently, I took on an inside pool maintenance project for a friend who does so much for our church. For the record it is fiberglass with gel coat. You could only imagine what a mess this was to include not getting the color of the two part epoxy paint for the bottom, dripping that all over the pool, wiping with dirty cloths crap left on the entire pool, floor was spiked so had to sand that down. 100 hours into prepping and one issue was the dust inside to be kept to a minimum. I think you get the picture what I had to do to correct that.

Now that I am into protecting the gel from chorine, I have been looking into many clear agents to protect the pool calling gel coat manufacturers, pool companies, pool coating manufacturers, miniwax and so forth. I am dealing with an 82 F temp for the water and low chorine. I am not dealing with of course barnacles, zebra mussles, etc. like boats. Miniwax said their wax is biodegradable and will not work and are skeptical of the other products. Pool companies to include National pools were not any help for a clear long time solution. One major pool mfg. of coatings tech, name withheld at his request, said their clear coating would hold up for several years but would have to be removed entirely with a new coat applied. I am not looking for that. Looked at acrylic paints but even there the manufacturers were skeptical. Spoke to many others but no clear solution on any long time solution to coat a pool. Mcquir's pure wax after two coatings of 3m cleaner wax is being applied for the time being, Not sure if that will be a solution.
First when it comes to maintenance of boats, never scrimp on materials for preventative maintenance and safety is always an issue with me on materials and the ways performing maintenance so no one is hurs

Now this is where I need the help of those on this forum to include JACKDAW, BRIAN S and others. In my search, I came upon a company called Coval Molecular Coatings whose CEO is Rick Stenberg. Phone number is 1 (707) 242 6900 and email address is ricks@covalmolecular.com The company is located in the San Francisco area. Rick is a sailor too. There are coatings for ships and pools. Spoke to this gentleman but I am not an engineer nor a chemist. He advised one coating which is clear is a molecular bond that is applied with the same preperations as all other paints. Barnacles and Zebra mussles, etc. slough off but every three years, a new coating has to be applied which the surface has to be sanded only without taking off the entire coating and a new coat has to be applied. I understand it has been applied on some sailboats and appx. 1500 pools but the jury is still out on the product per Rick Stenberg who is the CEO I think. I would ask if anyone is an engineer or chemist to call and talk with him. This may be something to be considered. I found in talking with Rick that he is honest and understood what I was trying to do but the jury is still out. He is a sailor so he knows what we are dealing with. Can some one who is a chemist and/or engineer call and get more details as I am not savy enough to ask the right questions.

crazy dave condon

 

[Seahorse24]

Crazy Dave, I am not a chemist, but I am a retired engineer. I attempted to research the company and products. I also read the downloadable PDF white paper, which states their process is secret. If the company has applied for a patent, the formula and or process would be disclosed in the patent application. I have six patents, so I know a little about how the process works. In other words, if their process is indeed unique and something that could be protected by a patent, I would expect the investors would want patent protection as soon as possible.

Here are my initial thoughts:

When the CEO of a company tells you the jury is still out, I would be cautious about trying the product.

The company appears to me to still be in startup mode. Typically, a company with a proven product has a distributor network or at least one distributor. They appear to be attempting to recruit distributors, but from what I can tell, the product is currently available only from the company itself. They don't list product part numbers for specific applications. You have to call the company to get information.

This company may have a great product, but until they stop saying the jury is still out and are willing to offer some form of warranty for specific applications, I would refrain from using it.

These are my personal opinions and may be totally wrong, so if others know something different about this company or have used their product, please speak up for them.

As for your pool project, I recommend you continue to research other options.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

The pool is basically built like a boat hull with fiberglass and gel coat. May be a start up company or not but the fact I am a good judge of character and found the fellow I talked with to be intelligent and honest. I have been working on boats for nearly the past 50 years and tried many things to make maintenance easier which is why I investigated this till I was blue in the face and tried a lot of things to include house paints. Since I am not a chemist, I asked for both sides of the coin to investigate and then advise on their findings, not suppositions. I use to be an investigator and I am coming from this approach which many will agree on my approach. I use to handle a litigation unit and those cases tried for 10 years in a row, I won because of solid investigations, not supposition and even some rulings became law because of those investigations. So I say investigate first and then report those findings. Nothing else will change my standards of investigating which is why I asked for an engineer and chemist to contact that company and report back. Give this a chance.

 

[fstbttms]

Here's my experience with a covalently-bonded nano coating marketed as an anti fouling solution:

 

[Seahorse24]

The pool is basically built like a boat hull with fiberglass and gel coat. May be a start up company or not but the fact I am a good judge of character and found the fellow I talked with to be intelligent and honest. I have been working on boats for nearly the past 50 years and tried many things to make maintenance easier which is why I investigated this till I was blue in the face and tried a lot of things to include house paints. Since I am not a chemist, I asked for both sides of the coin to investigate and then advise on their findings, not suppositions. I use to be an investigator and I am coming from this approach which many will agree on my approach. I use to handle a litigation unit and those cases tried for 10 years in a row, I won because of solid investigations, not supposition and even some rulings became law because of those investigations. So I say investigate first and then report those findings. Nothing else will change my standards of investigating which is why I asked for an engineer and chemist to contact that company and report back. Give this a chance.

Crazy Dave, I gave you my side of the coin, which I thought is what you requested. I was not attacking your ability to do research, your judgement, or your investigative skills. I was simply giving you my opinion, which I wrote could be wrong.

I could contact the company by phone and talk to the same people you did, but nothing they say verbally would change my opinion. Unless they are willing to state in writing something more definitive about your specific application, then my position would remain the same. When the CEO says the jury is still out, to me, that means they are unwilling to take any responsibility, if their product does not meet your expectations. He is basically saying you will be trying it at your own risk.

I've traveled to twenty foreign countries. I wrote the first technical agreement between an American and Russian company that eventually became the first Russian company to go public on the New York stock exchange.

Crazy Dave, I am not criticizing you. I simply offered my opinion based on my own experience with evaluating products and companies all over the world.

If you decide to use the product, I hope it works, and you can later come back and say I was wrong about my assessment. I have certainly been proven to be wrong more than once.

 

[Seahorse24]

I went down to the dock today to take a photo of the rudder. The bottom of the rudder has been in the water since September 5, 2016. So far I have been able to brush off the algae growth with a soft bristled broom. but today I noticed some staining that did not come off. I did not have a way to get close enough to scrub with more pressure. I could only extend the end of the broom out five feet to the rudder. Next time I will bring another boat so I can get up close so I can apply more pressure.

Here is today's photo.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

fstbttms;
Is that a coating from the same company that is not working. I did not order anything until I have the end results. That is why I asked others to investigate and advise. As a former investigator, that is a reasonable route to go to see if any product works is for the end results and until then, I cannot comment nor try it. Thanks.

Seahorse 24;
I am investigating anything that might work but until the results are in, then I will not try it nor advise either. We differ in our approach but to suppositions are not in my vocabulary. I just want to know concrete facts which is why I am asking for help on facts.

 

[fstbttms]

fstbttms;
Is that a coating from the same company that is not working.

I'm not sure. My experience was 5 or 6 years ago and I want to say the name of the coating itself was "Marine Armor" but I can't find anything on the internet now related to it. The company name is familiar, but I wouldn't bet the farm that it is the same outfit. What is the same is that the product claimed to be harder than granite, too slick for fouling growth to attach and impossible scrub off, all of which proved to be untrue. The product's performance was so poor that the boat owner removed it after about 4 or 5 weeks and went back to Pettit Trinidad.

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Looking on the internet, Marine Armor may have been a part of IPaints and if so, IPaints is an east coast company with offices in New Jersey while Colva Molecular is a west coast outfit. However, without positive verified results, I will proceed with what I do know. Seahorse24 is skeptical but I do respect his opinion. I was trying to find verifiable results and thus far cannot find any so I am reluctant to use any product until then only if the results would fulfill the needs I am looking for, specifically a clear coating for a pool (gel coat) that will last but will not peel, fall off or need any maintenance for at least five years and that is going to be difficult as I have spoken to major pool companies, retailers, manufacteres of gel coat and pool coatings, etc. One manufacturer tech advised their clear coating would yellow after years. .
As for bottom painting, my experience does include fresh, brackish and ocean of course on the east coast primarily in VA and NC, however, I always say to rely on local knowledge what works well for that area because believe it or not, some waters vary as to what is in it. As for acrylic paints, never worked for me but of course this is years ago and things change in that time. I hope what Seahorse 24 has done, he will keep us advised but of course that would not work in brackish or salt water, of course I could be wrong as things can change.

Thank you again and I hope someone who has experienced Colva Molecular coatings will be able to respond here.

 

[fstbttms]

No , the Marine Armor product was developed by a Bay Area company. And in any event, it wasn't "IPaints."

 

[fstbttms]

Thank you again and I hope someone who has experienced Colva Molecular coatings will be able to respond here.

OK, I did a search of e-mails I had with the owner of the J/120 that briefly used the nano coating I mentioned. It turns out that the product was developed by a company from Morgan Hill called "Syntropic Solutions." That company is now called "Cyntropic Solutions" and guess what? They own Coval Molecular Coatings. Coval Molecular makes a line of products called "TruNano" and now that I see that, I remember that the product I dealt with in 2011 was called "TruNano Marine Armor." Coval Molecular no longer has a marine coating in their TruNano line, but they do have one called "Coval Marine and Hull Coat," which I assume is the product you're considering. Is it the same product that I had experience with? I guess that only they could tell you. What I can tell you is that the Marine Armor product failed miserably.

Here is a thread about it from Sailing Anarchy, including a response from a company representative:

http://forums.sailinganarchy.com/index.php?showtopic=126103

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

Fstbttms;
Recently, I have been doing volunteer work on the average of 6 hours a day during the week helping others and I really appreciate your help in this investigation as I did not have the time plus you had already experienced this. It sounds like you clean bottoms and that too would show you are experienced in this field.. This is exactly what I was looking for, actual evidence. I do not plan to use this product but will leave others to make their decision. I really appreciate all your help into this which is greatly appreciated. You do not know how much.
Crazy Dave Condon