I'm very much interested in the same thing, Nachismo. I'm interested in exactly your question. I am also SCUBA certified and clean my own hull. I do my friend's boats too. I use one of these, most of the time, when there's a lot of fouling present:
Remora Solo - Remora Marine, Inc
There are different brushes available (from soft to hard, and even some specialized brushes that can tackle some hard growth). It's not cheap, but is a real godsend in our cold, very tidal waters. Current limits the time that in-water cleaning is even an option.
When antifouling paint gets talked about, the "serviceability" of the paint is not often discussed, and I think that's missing a seriously important point. Especially for people that are trying to get several (or three) seasons out of their paint.
The cheap/ish/er premium ablative antifouling paints (many people up here use West Marine PCA Premium ablative and this is what I have experience cleaning) have to be treated very gently when they're fresh, which is a pain (again, in warmer waters where there's less tidal current problems, time isn't as much of the essence), but they tend to work very well in the beginning of their life, so it's fairly easy to service them. As they age, it can become more of a challenge to get the hull sufficiently clean without taking off too much paint. It's a delicate balancing act. My experience here is that the WM PCA Premium protects very well, especially in the first season. The general thinking that I've adopted for paint like this is one coat per an expected season. I try to stretch three seasons out of a bottom job, so three coats. The price is very reasonable (IMO).
PCA Premium Ablative Antifouling Paint, Gallon | West Marine
I have also cleaned, I'm racking my memory a little so bear with me, what I believe was Petit ViViD in white in its first season after applying. It's expensive. It was a dream to clean and I was able to get it spotless because of how well the fouling stood out against the bright white hull. All of the fouling was of the soft growth/algae type, which was easy to clean, but I suspect that paints that are more ablative would stand up better to algae/soft growth. The paint is very durable, and I'm sure that it will withstand many cleanings. I'm not sure how long the copper itself will last, as it is a hybrid ablative/hard paint, and how it will wear in time for the sake of removal (see my comments below about paint wearing over time).
https://www.jamestowndistributors.c...tL3N3pBzHsojF3CBKIcxhYNvlxZ2xffQaAjf4EALw_wcB
Practical Sailor recently did a really fantastic bottom paint test in Chesapeake Bay (brackish waters - common for many boats) and ended up recommending Total Boat Krypton. It's a copper-free (environmentally friendly, which I've seen is possibly up for debate) paint and it's advertised as single-season. PS was able to get the best performance out of it. I'm unsure of how well it will perform in a multi-season situation. The test in their Dec. '23 edition suggests that it works very well after 18 months on a real boat that moves often. I'm unsure of how it will stand up to maintenance as it ages.
TotalBoat Krypton Copper-Free Antifouling Boat Bottom Paint
Bottom Paints for Brackish Water at 1 Year - Practical Sailor (the test is behind a paywall, but honestly, this test alone is worth the subscription to PS)
A couple factors have started to stand out to me with bottom paint:
1. In my area, a soft fouling additive, "anti-slime" (Irgasol, which is banned, but there are replacements) is important. WM PGA Gold has one in it, as do many premium paints. Soft growth is the main problem in the beginning of the paint's life, so this additive is helpful to keep maintenance down early in the game. Hard growth becomes more of a factor as the paint ages. Cheap paints that don't contain an anti slime additive will need a lot of maintenance, which is difficult because they don't stand up to cleaning well.
2. Cheap paints (the budget, single season ablative paints) don't control their ablasion rate well. They work fine for a little while, then they go "dead" (don't protect at all or nearly at all) and tend to leave a lot of dead paint behind, which has to be sanded off. Even my Remora won't take the "dead paint" patches off. I believe that the mechansim behind the action here is that the copper ablative is suspended in a matrix that contains a lot of hard material. When the copper has ablated out, the matrix is left behind, which has to be removed by you or someone you're paying. The paints that advertise some kind of controlled or engineered ablation rate will tend closer to paying for themselves in longevity between haul-outs and less maintenance (sanding/sand blasting/chemical removal - this is a whole other issue) in the long run.
I clean some boats, and see many others in the boatyard, that have layers and layers of this cheap antifouling built up since they are repainted every season with cheap, single season ablative paint. It makes a mess and is a lot of work to ultimately maintain in a sustainable way. Most people don't spend the time needed in the boatyard in the spring to sand back last season's paint (I'm guilty as charged).
Looking forward to hearing others thoughts on this.
