Cheap But Good Anti-fouling Paint

[Plymouth Sailor]

Dear Fellow Soon-To-Be-On-The-Water-Again Sailors:

Any recommendations on a cheap but good anti-fouling paint (red)? I wanted to use Rustoleum as they are great products but they only have black and blue. On a budget as my daughter is in college, tuition ouch!

Thanks,
Mark

 

[rgranger]

Mark

Are you leaving your boat in the water? If you are trailering, you don't need bottom paint.

 

[rgranger]

https://www.jamestowndistributors.c...milyName=Blue+Water+Marine+New+England+Copper

 

[JimInPB]

I recently used the CCP bottom paint from West Marine. It was a little over $100 per gallon. I used about 3 quarts to cover a 21' boat, including the swing keel.

Performance seems good. In the Florida ICW it is holding up well so far. I'm about a month in on the mooring with no build up except for some slime above where the paint ends. Before the fresh paint, in two weeks I had lots of barnacles.

It was easy to apply with a 3/8" nap roller. It was not at all friendly to apply with a chip brush. It dripped down the brush & all over my hands quickly. Tight work is best done with a small roller, not a chip brush.

It was not awful to work with like some of the older paints were. There was very little odor.

This is an ablative paint, which can be applied over unknown previous paints. It is tolerant of sitting out in the air, on a trailer. Some of the other (hard) paints are said to loose their effectiveness if left in the air too long.

This is a copper based paint that should not be used on aluminum.

 

[Plymouth Sailor]

Mooring

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

Mooring

Is that a verb or a noun?

 

[Crazy Dave Condon]

WM CCP is a softer paint that works well but it can sometimes scuff off when putting back onto the trailer. Good thing the anti fouling properties still last as others are only good for 60 days out of the water.

If leaving in the water year round suggest talking with the locals what works best.

 

[capta]

I haven't found or heard of an antifouling paint that actually works (in the tropics) for more than a few months, in many, many years, at any price.
I'd go for the cheapest you can find (our last bottom paint cost us$7.50 a gallon, but that was a windfall) and think of it as an aesthetic paint, and cleaning your bottom every month or two.

 

[Plymouth Sailor]

Mooring is a noun however only when you qualify it does it become a verb.

 

[JimInPB]

I haven't found or heard of an antifouling paint that actually works (in the tropics) for more than a few months, in many, many years,....

Yea, the stuff we had back in the '70s, with mercury in it, worked much better than anything I can find today. It was horrible to work with though. Sanding down the old stuff was hazardous work.

 

[capta]

Yea, the stuff we had back in the '70s, with mercury in it, worked much better than anything I can find today. It was horrible to work with though. Sanding down the old stuff was hazardous work.

As a teen I worked in boatyards from time to time and of course, being the 'kid', I always got the job of sanding off the bottom paint with a big disk sander. No mask, no white paper suit and no thought at all about the toxicity of the paint. Food tasted odd because the copper remained in your mouth for days afterward.

 

[rgranger]

... with a big disk sander. No mask, no white paper suit and no thought at all about the toxicity of the paint. ....

 

[JimInPB]

...Food tasted odd because the copper remained in your mouth for days afterward.

Copper?? I guess you must be younger than me. My boat yard days predate copper based bottom paints.