What bottom paint are you using this year

[Mustang65fbk]

I don't mind the look of the bottom paint when it's nice and new looking. That being said, I'm generally one that prefers as little maintenance as possible. My last boat, a 21' Arima, had bottom paint on it that was fading quite badly. I have my boat out on a buoy for a couple months during the summer in the Puget Sound and usually just get seaweed or grass on the boat/fiberglass but do get barnacles around the outboard where it attaches to the transom. A pressure washer gets those off pretty easily, along with the rest of the seaweed and other grass. I guess my opinion would be to leave the boat without paint on it, clean it up a couple times a year and you can always re-buff or make the gel coat look nicer. Some boats can get the orange/yellow color to it over the years, which I still prefer to the hassle of maintaining with bottom painting every year or every other year. That, and if you went to sell the boat, the next owner would always have the option of leaving it or bottom painting it themselves. Just my thoughts on the matter of course.

 

[pda]

Trilux 33 for trim tabs and outboard bracket. Micron Extra for hull. PET-1793 for the transducer.

The water by me goes through a shift over the spring to fall - from crazy fast barnacle growth to slime and mussels. I still get some slime towards the end of the year, but nothing that isn't cleaned up very easily.

The PET-1793 is completely gone by the end of the season, 4 coats too!

 

[trapper]

Mustang, After great advice from this forum, I am still going to start my first season docked in a marina without bottom paint to see how much growth accumulates and how easy it is to remove with a power washer. Its very easy for me to pull the boat out (don't know yet how often) to power wash on the marina site, or bring it home for a scrub on a miserable weather day. I will know very soon if I have to go with the bottom paint. Will be doing it myself with guidance from the group here regarding raising boat off the trailer etc.. Price for haul out and paint by local boat yard was $2500 on a Grady 208....ouch! Will report on activity once in the marina starting May 1 through Sept. Looking forward to NOT dealing with the Covid zoo at the ramp this year.

 

[DennisG01]

Trapper, are you in salt water? Although you can sometimes knock parts of the barnacles off with a pressure washer, you CAN NOT get all of it off. The only way is to manually use acid and even then you likely will have to sand them off - which also means you end up sanding the gelcoat. The first time getting it painted is the most expensive due to the prep work.

 

[trapper]

Thanks Dennis, yes I am in salt water so will see how long I before the bottom paint is applied. There is a fresh water creek that comes into the marina at the ramp end or closed end, so will see how that influences the growth before I consider prep and paint. Once one starts I guess it it an on going event.

 

[seasick]

Mustang, After great advice from this forum, I am still going to start my first season docked in a marina without bottom paint to see how much growth accumulates and how easy it is to remove with a power washer. Its very easy for me to pull the boat out (don't know yet how often) to power wash on the marina site, or bring it home for a scrub on a miserable weather day. I will know very soon if I have to go with the bottom paint. Will be doing it myself with guidance from the group here regarding raising boat off the trailer etc.. Price for haul out and paint by local boat yard was $2500 on a Grady 208....ouch! Will report on activity once in the marina starting May 1 through Sept. Looking forward to NOT dealing with the Covid zoo at the ramp this year.

In my boating area in NY, some boats are unpainted and left in the water for a few days to a week sometimes. Growth rates change during the season with warmer water being more conducive to growth, Slime and alga can be power washed off in general but barnacles can be tenacious.
What you will also find is that barnacles can and will grow on any type of surface if the conditions are right. Cleaning the hull is one thing, but the outdrives, lower units, motor brackets, trim tabs and cylinders, transducers, scoops and the like are all candidates for growth.

If you are going to slip without antifouling paint, I suggest that you haul the boat once a week at first to gauge growth. You can also make it a point to see how other folks hulls look when they haul.
Regarding costs, I am surprised at your estimate of $2500 for a 20 ft hull but that could be true if the job was completed blasting or sanding of the hull for existing bottom paint, barrier coat application and bottom paint, some of which an be pretty expensive. Since you hull is not painted, the prep would include a cleaning, dewaxing, light sanding, optionally barrier coat(s) and bottom paint.
I can state from personal experience that I can apply two this coats of bottom paint on my 208 using just one gallon of paint.
I mention the thin coats because I use Pettit Hydrocoat and that stuff needs to be applied in thin coats. More is not better.

 

[trapper]

Thanks seasick for your always valuable input.
I have had the boat in for a week or more at a time when staying at a water access only lodge, but was using it almost every day, so not a fair test. There are a few boats at the marina that have not bottom painted and haul out (don't know how often yet) for the scrub down. Will meet with them in May when the boat goes in. I am not trying to be difficult here, just realizing once you open that door "Bottom Painting" it is very difficult to return to the smooth, pristine , shiny, polished, virgin, fibreglass hull it is now. Yes Virginity is a fragile thing, we will see if that gets lost in the month of May!

 

[seasick]

LOL.
Running the boat more frequently does reduce growth on the hull but the more hidden areas like the motor bracket/tilt mechanism won't get scrubbed all that well.
If you don't paint, make sure the hull gets a good waxing. That can make it harder for barnacles to stick at least for a while.

 

[DennisG01]

There is a fresh water creek that comes into the marina at the ramp end or closed end

That might be your saving grace to keep your boat a virgin It might be an environment that is not conducive to barnacles. Do you see any barnacles growing anywhere near your slip? If not, you'll probably be good and will just have soft growth (weeds).

 

[seasick]

That might be your saving grace to keep your boat a virgin It might be an environment that is not conducive to barnacles. Do you see any barnacles growing anywhere near your slip? If not, you'll probably be good and will just soft growth (weeds).

Dang, that is a really good point about barnacles on the dock.. Sometimes I amaze myself with my ignorance

 

[DennisG01]

Dang, that is a really good point about barnacles on the dock.. Sometimes I amaze myself with my ignorance

Yeah, but I just used up my one really good idea that I get per month...

 

[SkunkBoat]

FYI....West Marine has their CPP on sale $80 gal and PCA Gold is $150. Pettit and Interlux on sale too.

 

[trapper]

Thanks Skunk, I will have to go on a treasure hunt to find a break on paint prices (if I have to go that route) We do not have a West Marine any where near us. They bailed out in a town about 11/2 hours drive from here about 3 years ago. Not sure why.

 

[oliver305]

I use Interlux bottom paint, the paint's longevity is one of the aspects that sets it apart. I examined the hull of my boat after an entire season and was surprised at how the paint was still relatively intact. Apart from the color fading a little after being in the water for a few months, there were no visible cracks or peeling.

 

[ocdansar]

Got mine at the bottom paint store. Bottom is prepped and ready to start rolling it on in the morning.