Bottom Paint for lower unit and trimtabs

[Jimsalv]

I have been using Interlux 33 for years , along with the Primacon Primer. I have followed instructions to the letter, yet still have a jungle growing off my trim tabs every year! What do you all use on your underwater metal, and do you have good results?!

 

[igblack87]

im always scrubbing my engine bracket and trim tabs with the brush & plastic scrapper thing. paint alone never works in my opinion...im wet slipped May - Oct. in new england as well.

 

[drbatts]

Hydrocoat eco. still get some growth but has worked better then interlux for me. Still have to scrub a little a couple times over the summer.

 

[seasick]

There is no magical solution that I know of. I deal with the growth on the motor bracket and tabs every season regardless of what I apply to them. My measure of success is how hard or easy it is to clean the parts after haul out. I have had terrible experience with clear spray Interlux 33.
Depending on where you boat, the only thing that helps and maybe a lot is more frequent scrubbing. I often take a brush to the surfaces when anchored in shallow ( and warm) waters.Some folks use some of the newer copper free biocides on those surfaces but I have no first hand experience.
I have a boat with what seems to be epoxy primer on the trim tabs. I have painted them with Hydrocoat and so far they haven't corroded or fallen off

 

[DennisG01]

Same here - those two areas (tabs and lower motor bracket) seem to always grow stuff. I suspect that it's because the "inside" of the tab and the motor bracket are a protected area and the forward motion of the boat doesn't allow water pressure (or even current) to wash away anything that is "just starting" to get a hold on things. I think it has something to do with the hard, inside edges allowing this, too. There HAS to be some correlation between the "type" of location this is. I'm not sure if I'm explaining this well enough...

 

[Fishtales]

I kept my boat in brackish water for years and it was easy peasy as not much grew. These last few years, I've had to stay on top of it by scrubbing. This year I've got some of the white barnical residue which I'm going to use gloves and acid to get off. Then will try a metal paint, but put the hydrocoat that I use on the hull over it and see what happens.