At a loss with my bottom paint

Don S/V ILLusion · Apr 8, 2018

Delaware to the Bahamas covers a wide range of conditions. No paint is effective everywhere.

Davidasailor26 · Apr 8, 2018

Is the growth mostly soft slime or barnacles too? It sounds like the boat was basically sitting in place for some extended periods once you arrived at your destinations? Without water movement some growth will happen.

Gunni · Apr 8, 2018

All Hydrocoat is not same, which version did you use. A rolling stone gathers no moss!

Gunni · Apr 8, 2018

You should be using Hydrocoat SR, it includes an anti-soft growth addititive which is beneficial for boats that don’t move much. There was a shortage of the additive a year or so ago and it was difficult to find the SR. I find Hydrocoat works well in warm water, and since it is an ablative just scrub it down like you are doing and be prepared to pressure wash and reapply. Hydrocoat sticks well, just need to scrubby-pad the clean surface and paint. Don’t over-do it. One coat is probably enough unless you have worn off what you have.

justsomeguy · Apr 8, 2018

RWSlater said:
...bottom cleaning has to be done once one a month?

Whether it needs it or not.

Sailm8 · Apr 8, 2018

I use Trinidad SR and have a diver once a month here in South Florida. In less than a week, I can have tiny barnacles growing on my unpainted RIB. On the good side, I am getting at least 3 to 4 years out of the paint. Like has been said, it all depends on where you are anchored.

dlochner · Apr 8, 2018

Practical Sailor just did a piece on bottom cleaning. The short story is that aggressive cleaning will accelerate paint loss.

Ablative paints are designed to be gradually sloughed off exposing new biocides, scrubbing takes he paint off. Their suggestion, is to use the gentlest method possible, starting with plain rubber gloves to knock the barnacles and growth off.

Franklin · Apr 8, 2018

If you have soft paint, you are supposed to rub it down every 2 weeks if you are not constantly moving. Hope Town and Marsh Harbour have a lot of growth so if you sit there for a month, yes you will need to clean. In fact, I don't know of any place you can sit for a month and not need at least some cleaning before sailing. I have tried many paints, all with the same result, so I prefer hard paint now as that doesn't come off when I clean. I'm not going to get in the water and clean it every 2 weeks like you are supposed to with soft paint if I am not going anywhere for months.

Joe · Apr 9, 2018

RWSlater said:
Some hard stuff and some “grass”, not really slime. Yes not a lot of movement, but man the growth is just incredible.
So if it’s in one place for some time, bottom cleaning has to be done once one a month?
Just seems excessive to me

Since you leave the boat in the water year round, go with a hard shell paint, instead of the ablative, and hire a diver to wipe it down every month.... in the long run you will save because the paint coverage will last longer and require less haul outs.
Our SoCal waters are colder and somewhat cleaner, but with regular diver maintenance you can go at least 4 years between haul outs.... I've gone 7 since the last one, and the diver only uses a piece of carpet to wipe the slime off. Also... when you're ready to repaint...have a diver clean the bottom just before haulout. It'll save a lot of time and make the job quite a bit easier.

RoyS · Apr 9, 2018

I use Dry Diver Brush to clean the slime off a couple of times each season. Can be used at the dock or over the side from deck. Takes about ten minutes to clean entire hull (except keel). Search on line for place to purchase. Works great.

All U Get · Apr 9, 2018

Yep just did mine in Green Turtle Cay.

PS our diver did a quick scrape with a blade then used his gloves for wiping it down. Four months in the Bahamas after sailing from Maine to Florida starting October 1st. One cleaning in 7 months using Hydrocoat Eco.

SG · Apr 9, 2018

I think the Hydracoat is for power boats and the Hydracoat SR (as Gunni pointed-out) is for sailboats.

An ablative paint really doesn't ablate very much unless you're doing over 15 knots or, as you can see, when a diver rubs it a bit. (Then it sort-of begins disappearing).

We used to use Micron 66 ablative paints in the Chesapeake, then we had the bottom coat soda blasted and used a hard paint - VC offshore. It's not legal to have an ablative paint wiped down where we are (I'm doubt it is in Florida, either). That didn't hold-up very well, but it was "faster through the water". We now have Petite Trinidad SR (which has the highest copper content), it has less "fuzz" that builds-up.

We have ours wiped at least every two weeks in the Chesapeake in the summer. It grows a slight amount of "fuzzy scum", but no barnacles. When we take the boat up to Maine in the Summers, even there (and with the 700 nm trip up) there is a slight fuzz that grows. We have it wiped down every 3 or 4 weeks.

In Florida, you are just in the gooh of life waters in the summer -- what do you expect? :^))).

dlochner · Apr 9, 2018

Jamestown Distributors just released its annual Bottom Paint Survey.

JimInPB · Apr 9, 2018

Here in south Florida, the divers that clean bottoms do a booming business. Average cleaning intervals range from 1-4 weeks, unless you are in an area with very fast moving water or you take the boat out & use it frequently. The speed boat guys usually use hard bottom paint & the sailboat guys usually use the soft, rub off paints. Things were very different up north, where I only cleaned the hull on the morning before a race.

Welcome to South Florida. Fuzzy bottoms are part of the price that you pay for living in paradise.

BruceC · Apr 9, 2018

I agree completely recommendation of "Sailm8" in going with Trinidad SR which is a hard bottom paint as they do not make a better bottom paint for the conditions you are experiencing. Of course, where you have already applied Pettit Hydrocoat, a water based ablative paint, you could not apply Trinidad SR over your existing paint. You can apply an ablative paint over a hard bottom paint, but not the reverse; you would first have to remove the existing ablative paint. After years of using Trinidad, I switched to Pettit's Ultima SR, an excellent ablative paint but does not compare with Pettit's Trinidad SR. The often heard argument is that an ablative paint precludes the build up of paint you get with a hard bottom paint. However, with a light sanding I never had a build up of paint using Trinidad SR where I did experience some minor problem with the Ultima SR. Pettit's Trinidad is EXPENSIVE, but worth it. The only reason I have not switched back is that at 77 years of age I do not want to expend the effort removing the ablative paint!

pateco · Apr 9, 2018

I used the Micron 66 over 3 years ago. In S Florida you need monthly cleaning to keep it clean. but even after I left it for several months in a row I had no hard encrustations on painted parts. Unpainted prop however had both barnacles and big oysters on it. Now I pay someone to do it monthly.