I contacted Pettit to get their reaction to last week's comments about problems of soft growth with Hydrocoat. Not a word from them yet - should I be surprised?
More (or less) on Pettit Hydrocoat
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I tried Hydrocoat this season and am VERY disappointed.
Not so much in the growth department, that has been okay except for some slime, but it has no slime blocker, but this is very much a hard type paint compared to an ablative.
The tech support department simply lied to me about how this paint actually worked. I was told it was identical to Ultima in terms of how it abladed and that could not be farther from the truth. When my diver cleaned it there was NO sloughing and NO cloud in the water. I paid for an ablative paint to avoid buildup and that is NOT what I got. Buyer beware. I can see why Sea Ray installs it on all their 30+ knot boats.. It does NOT wear away like a real co-polymer ablative..
I am going to have my diver scour it with a green Scotch-Brite in-water, a second time, to get as much off as I can so I can go back to Ultima SR. Hydrocoat has been a miserable experiment for me...
Not so much in the growth department, that has been okay except for some slime, but it has no slime blocker, but this is very much a hard type paint compared to an ablative.
The tech support department simply lied to me about how this paint actually worked. I was told it was identical to Ultima in terms of how it abladed and that could not be farther from the truth. When my diver cleaned it there was NO sloughing and NO cloud in the water. I paid for an ablative paint to avoid buildup and that is NOT what I got. Buyer beware. I can see why Sea Ray installs it on all their 30+ knot boats.. It does NOT wear away like a real co-polymer ablative..
I am going to have my diver scour it with a green Scotch-Brite in-water, a second time, to get as much off as I can so I can go back to Ultima SR. Hydrocoat has been a miserable experiment for me...
Geez, hope I can find the receipt for the two gallons in the basement!
Maybe someone has fresh water experience?
Maybe someone has fresh water experience?
well, Mainesail, my mileage has varied as they say. I have used Hydrocoat for two years and I roll on a very thin coat with a 3/16" nap roller. My observation last fall after the first season was that most of the paint was gone as it should have been. After my season haul-out this fall I will be able to see if the paint is ablated like last year. Maybe there is something wrong with this year's paint?
When I clean my water line I end up lightly scrubbing some of the bottom paint and in previous years that has resulted in a cloud of paint. I can't say one way or another if that is the case this year. I will pay attention during my next cleaning.
In short, at least for last year, the paint did ablade as I would have expected. My complaint is the excessive growth this year in the form of blooms on the surface of the paint- not slime, not hard growth, just soft blooms.
At least in Northport with the sewer plant feeding the slime and barnacle larva so well NOTHING works BUT my boat wipes off very easy every two weeks with nothing but a washcloth and light wipe
I bought, and used, Hydrocoat based on the comments and ratings made by "Practical Sailor" a few years ago. I don't get PS anymore so does anyone who does know if they have changed their rating of this paint? I have been "generally" happy with this paint as I have had no hard growth below the waterline for the past 2 seasons. I have had slime, but expected that as there is no slime inhibitor in the paint. I apply only one thin coat each spring with a 1/4" roller.
Yes, PS was still singing the praises of Hydrocoat this spring. That, and ease of application was the reason I purchased. PS does not evaluate ablative characteristics however.
Phil, I have been using Hydrocoat since shortly after it first appeared in the market. We used it for 9 years on our boat in South Florida and the Caribbean and it performed as stated. We cleaned our bottom once a month and the sloughing effect was very evident. When we first applied it, we had a solid base of Trinidad blue underneath which we aggressively sanded with 80 grit and then applied 2 coats with a foam roller. This would generally last 18 months to 2 years before the blue Trinidad was visible. Six years ago, we applied 2 coats with a 3/8" nap roller before returning our boat to Lake Michigan. Our season here is short (4 months) and with the exception of a few touch ups we're still using the original paint with good antifouling properties for fresh water. We do, however, sail our boat more than most and fouling, as of yet, has not been a problem. Perhaps, as someone has suggested, they have changed the formula. I would highly recommend the product based upon my experience with it. I think a personal conversation with their product advisors might shed some light on this discussion. Good luck and good sailing, Ron
That is what I would expect and I get nothing...:cussing:
My growth has just been slime but it does not have a slime blocker so I expected that... The waters are colder up here though...
Your diver should not be intentionally scrubbing your anti fouling paint off into the water, at your request or for any other reason. Intentionally removing paint in preparation for a new bottom is a job that should only be done in the yard, where the waste can be handled and disposed of properly.
Your probably right..
Of course we're still in the land where a large number of the yards who pressure wash boats do so, so that the majority of it still runs into the water. Why should I, a single boat owner, be held to a higher standard than a yard who pressure washes hundreds of boats a year into a small cove?
Many yards are upgrading to catch basins, but at a cost of 6+ figures. The yard I use just did this last season and it costs them a LOT of money. The real joke is that they are part of the local water district and not on a private septic system. They have to pay to pump the waste into the treatment plant where when it rains, and over flows, it all winds up in the bay anyway not far from where the yard is... Where our boat is on her mooring I am not to concerned about it, she is not in a marina and we have 10 foot tides and big currents.
I am certainly getting a LOT less copper into the water than I did with a solvent based ablative and the resulting plume when the diver went down...
I just want it thinner by the time she comes out, perhaps back to the Ultima SR-60 layer, but not off...
For the same reason you shouldn't discharge your holding tank overboard even though your local sewer system may put many thousands of gallons of waste into the water; because it's the right thing to do.
I painted my cheoy Lee with 3 coats of red Pettit Hydrocoat last summer. I launched the boat and it stayed in a freshwater lake for 7 months. When hauled it had a small amount of soft growth that sprayed off easily in a few minutes. I trucked the boat to Kentucky lake and launched it on a trip to Maine, via the Tenn-Tom, Gulf, the Florida Keys, and the east coast. After 4 months in salt water, the bottom had zero growth and the paint still looked ok.
It certainly worked better than the hard paint I used before.
It certainly worked better than the hard paint I used before.
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