Ablative bottom paint with biolux/Irgarol? Any thoughts?

Bad Obsession · Mar 28, 2016

I used the West Marine PCA Gold on my current boat and my last boat.
http://www.westmarine.com/buy/west-marine--pca-gold-premium-ablative-antifouling-paint--P016471658

The first time I used it on my previous boat it lasted three years with very little growth. That was awesome.

This past season I painted my Compac 23 with it and I had slime on the bottom when I pulled it onto the trailer after 6 months. I am not sure why it fouled so bad this past time but it is like the Irgarol in it didn't work. It is a good ablative for the money.

After reading the description I see that they no longer have Irgarol in it because there is a worldwide shortage of it. It may be hard to get Irgarol, I guess.

Check out the Practical Sailor reviews of different paint, it may be worth your while.

fstbttms · Mar 28, 2016

Don't know about a worldwide shortage, but the maker of Irgarol (BASF) failed to re-register the product in this country, which is why only old paint inventory has it now.

Justin_NSA · Mar 29, 2016

Unless you completely remove the existing bottom paint you will need to find out which ones are compatible with it. Since you aren't sure what you have, that's a problem. Another alternative is paint manufacturers market primers the will allow the new paint to stick. You need to find out what primer the new paint requires. Follow tne directions.

Davidasailor26 · Mar 29, 2016

I used Pettit Ultima SR-40 with Irgarol last year, and am using it again this season, but Defender's site showed that there were only 2 gallons of it left when I bought it last month. It worked pretty well last year, but did get slimey by mid summer.

Justin_NSA · Mar 29, 2016

Ericnorm said:
I have the previous owners email, made sure I had some form of correspondence for any, "minor" questions..... just incase!

Definitely ask what he has on the hull now so you can sort out the compatibility issue!

fstbttms · Mar 29, 2016

The lack of Irgarol is probably of little concern for a boat that will live in freshwater, part-time. My guess is that the OP will get good anti fouling performance from just about any paint he ends up using.

Davidasailor26 · Mar 29, 2016

fstbttms said:
The lack of Irgarol is probably of little concern for a boat that will live in freshwater, part-time. My guess is that the OP will get good anti fouling performance from just about any paint he ends up using.

I'm surprised by that. I thought Irgarol was focused on preventing slime (more so than hard growth) which is generally a fresh water problem. And a few months in warm water should be enough for slime to grow. Why wouldn't the Irgarol protection be useful there?

fstbttms · Mar 29, 2016

Davidasailor26 said:
I'm surprised by that. I thought Irgarol was focused on preventing slime (more so than hard growth) which is generally a fresh water problem. And a few months in warm water should be enough for slime to grow. Why wouldn't the Irgarol protection be useful there?

It would provide good protection. My point is that a boat in freshwater (and part-time at that) is going to foul so lightly that it simply isn't going to need much anti fouling performance to stay clean. Therefore, just about any paint will serve the OP well.

Brian S · Mar 30, 2016

I used Pettit Hydrocoat SR on mine. It's supposed to be ablative, but it proved to be much harder than the previous Interlux Bottomkote NT - which I think is good. It definitely reduced the amount of slime I got. I only had to scrub the waterline maybe twice through the season. Left it on for a second season, and I could tell it was becoming a bit less effective. This is for small inland lake in SE PA.