Transducer Paint

[Alok]

I have a transom mounted transducer for the depth sounder. The boat is kept in the water and hauled out every six months for engine maintenance.

Barnacle growth on the transducer has been a major problem. Not only does this look ugly, it also interferes with transducer function.

This January I applied four coats of MDR transducer paint following the instructions on the bottle. When we hauled the boat a few days ago, the number of barnacles appeared to be even more than usual- finding the transducer was like going on an archeological dig.

So, MDR paint is

a) ineffective, or
b) it is ineffective when applied to plastic surfaces (an adherence issue?) or
c) Texas barnacles are tougher than other barnacles (as a Texan, this makes me proud- but as a boatowner maybe not so much...)

The professionally applied anti-fouling paint on the aluminum motor mounts is also not as effective as the copper-based paint on the hull. It may be that no paint without copper is going to work as well as a copper-based paint. Even so, I was disappointed with the MDR paint. I guess I have to just take a dunk every month and clean the transducer and engine mounts with a stiff brush.

To save me a dunking, does anyone have recommendations for a different brand of transducer paint that has proven effective in warm waters?

Note: For those interested in some background on this issue, check out this thread. The paint issue is in the latter half of the thread.

http://www.c-brats.com/viewtopic.php?t=5838&highlight=transducer+reports+depth+infrequently

[Bill3558]

I had the same problem using the "transducer paint". Found it totally ineffective, so I just slapped on a bunch of my regular bottom paint.

Which by the way is HydraCoat. Stuff is easy to apply cause its water based and I found it works great on the hull and transducer, even my trim plates. Its the best paint I have found for the warm south Ga weather and hellasious fouling growth.

I have had no degradation on transducer performance.

Good luck!