Anyone use Seahawk Bottom Paints?

[Juice6576]

Saw an add today for Sea Hawk Bottom Paints. In the Great Lakes, VC-17M seems to be the standard bottom paint of choice. Sea Hawk makes an equivalent/compatible paint using zinc instead of copper. According to their website, it holds its color after wetting and has about the same coverage. On top of that, its $10 cheeper a quart. Anyboady use any of their products before. They are based out of Florida.

http://www.seahawkpaints.com/Libraries/Tech_Sheets/SilverBullet_tech_data.sflb.ashx

 

[Cool_Change]

Certainly reads as similar to and compatible with vc17 but some comments on actual experience would be good.

Where did you see in on sale?

 

[Juice6576]

I saw an ad on facebook for The Bottom Paint Store, which appears to be a store for Seahawk brand paints.

 

[Cool_Change]

Found it:

http://www.bottompaintstore.com/silver-bullet-friction-reducing-coating-p-9483.html

Note that they don't at present ship to Canada (aka may have to get creative). Also I assume that this is a logistics thing, not that it can't be used here/there.

 

[Dave602]

I just went through a seminar put on by Norton's Yacht Sales in Deltaville VA. They are one of the top Hunter Dealers in the country. They have been using Seahawk for the last 6years. They had a rep there and was very impressive, also backed up by locals who have been using them. I will most likely be giving them a try myself.

 

[Richard Bryer]

Cool_Change -The different environmental rules sometimes make life confusing on those shared bodies of water. It may indeed be the case that the Seahawk products do not pass Canadian rules or it may be the case that the company merely has not sought Canadian approval. I have heard several time that Canadian VC-17 does not have the same biocide contents that the US product has and that the US product is more effective in combating the late summer slime that we get here. Then we get into life preserver rules- different for the south side of the lake!I would think we are pretty much the same shape and size as you guys on the south side and the water is the same?

 

[geehaw]

Well I cannot say about the paint but will say I was happy with The Bottom paint store. I bought from them last year. They were the only ones I could find to ship to Alaska. Only other thing available to me was Interlux at $300 a gallon localy. I got some on sale from the bottom paint store" Seahawk" for $160 I believe it was. I didn't keep the boat in water last year so can't really say on the effectiveness of it. Greg

 

[Alan]

I can't comment on Seahawk paint but I can highly recommend Aquagard. It is an ablative water based paint that I've been using for more than 15 years on Long Island Sound. Last season although water temps were higher than normal I still had zero hard growth with minimal soft growth that wiped off easily with a sponge. The big plus with water based paint is that no respirator is needed to apply it and clean up is a breeze.

 

[Mike Culik]

Yes, I have used Sea Hawk on both of my Hunters... on the upper Chesapeake Bay.

The first time in 2006 on the bottom of my 25.5 The rep just happened to be in the marina store pushing their products with some kind of promotion/rebate. Prep amounted to grinding/sanding the keel to bare metal, repairing the “smile” and hitting a couple of small blisters with West/fairing system and Interlux 2000e barrier coat.

The 25.5 stayed in the water until hauling in fall of 2010. Everyone was amazed that I hadn’t repainted up to that point. Well I could have gone another year! The Cukote held up great for me, in my boating environment! This past spring (2011) I touched up a couple spots on the keel by vac sanding, barrior coated the entire keel and re-applied the same product, Sea Hawk Cukote……

I sold the 25.5 in June 2011 and acquired a Hunter 31 fixer upper….
It needed major blister repairs, stripping the keel to bare metal all with the vac sanding/grinding, …I used West system fillers for the blisters and keel smile, followed by Interlux 2000e barrier coat. After all that work, I wanted to use a paint that I had confidence in, so again I used Sea Hawk Cukote.

You’re asking the right questions and I hope this helps, but keep reading all the literature on the available products in your area. Bottom paint endurance depends on many factors: Environment, Preparation, and Application……

I believe the copper content in the product I used, may not be legal and or environmental responsible in all areas of the country and think most high copper content products like Cukote may disappear in the near future...

Good luck, Mike

 

[Juice6576]

Zinc vs copper

The product I'm looking at is fully compatible with Vc17m. The big difference in the two was the Seahawk paint uses zinc instead of copper. I've used vc17 since coming to the Midwest in 1996. VC17 is more expensive and changes color. The seahawk paint holds its color and is cheaper. Will the zinc work as well as copper? I'm also not sure of the slime resistance compared to the biolux.

 

[Cool_Change]

I've ordered some to give it a shot. "save$10" works as a coupon code as well. Got silver so over top of regular vc17 (black) it should be evident to what extent it wears off.

 

[Juice6576]

Quick Service

The paint and paint supplies were delivered today. Quick turn around and no delivery fee because I hit the magic number. Good service so far. We'll have to see how the paint works.

 

[twistedline]

I decided to try some Sea Hawk Cukote paint (red) , I have never used antifoul before. The boat went into the water a couple of months ago and it is keep in the upper Chesapeake.

When I was out last week I noticed tiny barnacles on the rudder, not too many and they came off easily if I nudged them. I also felt under the hull with my hand and they were there too, along with some slime.

As I have no experience with anti foul I want to ask if this Is this normal. I have used the boat almost every weekend.

Thanks

Warren