We placed our project boat in the slip on September 5. Although the boat is on a boat lift, I left about two inches of the rudder in the water for an initial test of the acrylic bottom paint.
After being in the fresh water lake for 55 days the acrylic paint shows no signs of softening. Algae did grow on the painted surface, which was easily removed with a soft bristled broom.
I have photos but can't figure out how to post them using my iPad. I'll post two photos tomorrow using my desktop computer.
The only problem I see with using 100 percent acrylic house paint on the boat bottom is algae growth over long periods of time in the water. It comes off easily with a brush. For people who trailer their boats, you could power wash it off within minutes, if you do not let it dry. Dried algae can be very difficult to scrub off. Been there, done that. The reason we use lifts for all of our boats.
It takes two weeks of no forward movement of the boat for the algae to begin showing up on the surface below water level. I let it grow for 55 days to see how difficult it would be to brush it off. It came off easily. All I had down at the dock was a soft broom.
By keeping our boat on a lift, we will not have to worry about algae growth, but I wanted to address this issue for trailer sailers who leave their boats in the water for weeks or months at a time.
Our sailboat is 44 years old and we wanted none toxic paint on the bottom. Our fresh water lake is the water source for 450,000 people. 80 to 120 million gallons a day are drawn from the lake.
I have no idea how arcrylic paint would hold up in salt water.
You can learn more about our restoration project at this link.
https://sailboatprojectorbust.wordpress.com/
After being in the fresh water lake for 55 days the acrylic paint shows no signs of softening. Algae did grow on the painted surface, which was easily removed with a soft bristled broom.
I have photos but can't figure out how to post them using my iPad. I'll post two photos tomorrow using my desktop computer.
The only problem I see with using 100 percent acrylic house paint on the boat bottom is algae growth over long periods of time in the water. It comes off easily with a brush. For people who trailer their boats, you could power wash it off within minutes, if you do not let it dry. Dried algae can be very difficult to scrub off. Been there, done that. The reason we use lifts for all of our boats.
It takes two weeks of no forward movement of the boat for the algae to begin showing up on the surface below water level. I let it grow for 55 days to see how difficult it would be to brush it off. It came off easily. All I had down at the dock was a soft broom.
By keeping our boat on a lift, we will not have to worry about algae growth, but I wanted to address this issue for trailer sailers who leave their boats in the water for weeks or months at a time.
Our sailboat is 44 years old and we wanted none toxic paint on the bottom. Our fresh water lake is the water source for 450,000 people. 80 to 120 million gallons a day are drawn from the lake.
I have no idea how arcrylic paint would hold up in salt water.
You can learn more about our restoration project at this link.
https://sailboatprojectorbust.wordpress.com/