Tomcat paint

M

matt_unique

New member
We have a lot of good information on this site about bottom paint.

I was curious if anyone has used Pettit Vivid? Vivid could be painted over the fiberglass hull and the aluminum (no cuprous oxide). It's a hard paint recommended for vessels like Tomcats that regularly cruise more than 15mph.

Pettit also recommends their Trinidad and Trinidad SR with a very high cuprous oxide content that could only be applied to the fiberglass hull of course. Has anyone tried the Trinidad?

Ablative paints offer great protection but I wonder about this kind of paint on a Tomcat. I would hate to return to the dock to find it gone after a steady cruise :shock:

Thanks for the insights. It's that time of year!

I'm also determined to figure out a good/easy solution to lift one side of the Tomcat at a time for painting this year....(not to be confused with the ease of jacking a monohull off a trailer :D) The more I have thought about it...the more I am thinking that two bottle jacks carefully cribbed on both sides of the trailer tires with 2' long pieces of 4X4 along the outside edge of the flat portion of the sponsons....pump the jacks simultaneously and once there is a gap place wood between the sponson and the trailer. OR...instead of bottle jacket use boat stands in the same locations also with 4X4 wood against the outside portion of the sponson to get some gap. I know I have posted about this a lot over the last two years. I was thinking as a measure of safety I could see about chaining the bottle jackets or boat stands to the trailer for the lift. Thoughts?
 
Maybe you have already tried this, but what about jacking up one side of the trailer to the get the cat hull where you want it, then block it there and lower the trailer frame. Could maybe use some tall jackstands then, with them sitting flat under the hull :|

Don't know, just to many hulls for me :?

Harvey
SleepyC
 
I have green Vivid on my Caracal (same speeds as Tom Cat) and in 6 months no growth or slime. I saw a F 24 which was in the water for 3 years and it looked good.

I have also used Trinidad SR (use the SR)--and got over 3 years in my area out of that. The Vivid is defnately softer, but is a nice paint.
 
We have Trinidad SR applied before purchasing and Parker boat is kept out on the water on boat stands. Have you looked at
a gantry crane with electric hoist ?
 
I have used Trinidad SR for many years on a variety of boats, including my CD 22. I really like the paint, it does a great job of keeping the bottom clean and dries to a hard durable surface. I usually get three years out of Trinidad. Personally, I have never been a fan of ablative paints. One main reason is that anything you pull up that just touches the bottom comes up with bottom paint on it, lines, traps etc. Also, when the boat is on the trailer, ablative paint seems to rub off on me and my clothes all too easily. In fact one day I looked like a Smurf after washing a boat with ablative paint on the bottom and then tracked it into my car and on to the upholstery, not o.k. You will be happy with Trinidad SR and it will tolerate the Tomcat speeds just fine.
 
I have Trinidad on my Sea Ray in Shasta Lake (freshwater, of course) and it just goes on, year after year. My marine yard mechanic says it will last the lifetime of the boat in fresh water! (?)

I'll put it on my C-Dory next time around!

Joe. :teeth :thup
 
Trinidad is a hard anti-fouling paint, in fact it is described as a hard modified epoxy. I used it on our sailboat and it kept the foulies down. However that boat was in the water all the time.

When we shipped the boat from San Diego to Mobile, some of the paint peeled off, and I was told Trinidad wasn't happy out of the water. OK, we repainted it, put it back in the water, and after a month or so, some peeled off again.

Petit, when contacted, said that Trinidad has a build up that has to be removed about every third paint layer, and you have to start over again. So I had the bottom sandblasted, which was a mess. Epoxy coated it and went with ablative.

Ablative can be a mess, but Journey On spends most of the time out of the water, and the paint doesn't smear so much after the hull dries.

Boris
 
Good luck with the project. Let us know about the boat lifting. That is a lot of boat to lift and support.
one edit Trinidad SR can be burnished to a smooth finish.
 
Levitation":3pxj81nb said:
I talked to Pettit about bottom paint for Levitation, where it will be in and out of the water... They instantly said Vivid...
Click to expand...

Funny you mention it...I spoke to Pettit and exchanged emails with Armstrong over the last few days as well.

Pettit said Vivid would be a good solution for AL and fiberglass and was a 'softer hard paint'. They said the Trinidad SR was their top anti-fouling paint with the highest level of cuprous oxide. Interestingly, they did say you could apply cuprous oxide paint over AL if you used their primer coat (I forget the exact product code but have it at home).

The folks at Armstrong said you DEFINITELY do not want to apply cuprous oxide anti-fouling paint to the bracket. Although Pettit said it was OK I would avoid applying the cuprous oxide paint to the bracket.

Thanks for the replies...Spring approaches.
 
We've had a few days up this way with temps >50 degrees so I began the process. I stripped all the cuprous oxide paint off the Armstrong bracket and sanded every inch of the hull below the waterline. I did not remove all the paint on the rest of the hull, but down enough so the remaining paint is very thin and adhered very well to the hull.

I'm now applying Pettit Aluma Protect (two part epoxy) friendly to AL over the Armstrong bracket (below waterline). Once I have applied several coats I will finish with Pettit Vivid anti foul paint.

I have painted almost all the fiberglass hull with two coats. I ran out of time and temp during our good weather window yesterday and will finish on our next good day.

Lastly, I decided I'm going to float Napoleon at the ramp, slide her back 8-10", then secure and pull her back out to get access to the area under the trailer bunks. This will expose the aft portion of the sponsons allowing me to use two 3.5 ton floor jacks (i.e. not bottle) cribbed/supported as necessary to lift the stern up (one jack under each sponson), place some wood blocks on the trailer bunks forward and aft, then set her down. If I remember I will bring my camera to document the process. Thank you Dr. Bob for the idea and I appreciate everyone's suggestions.

I'm probably being over cautious by avoiding a lift from the wing deck, but I feel better about lifting under the sponsors.

I will let you know how I make out.

--Matt
 
Well I applied two coats of Pettit Vivid to Napoleon. As with every other bottom paint I have ever used, I get exactly half a season before I need a power wash. To be fair, the sweater is not as bad as it has been with other bottom paints, but it's there none the less.

So I'm still on the hunt for a bottom paint that will actually go a season without a sweater on the hull. I have also cruised 900 nautical miles so far this season so it certainly is not due to sitting still! I keep her on a mooring with a 3 knot current during our semi-diurnal tidal shifts.

I have decided there is no such thing as multi-season bottom paint. Per Pettit (spoke to them on the phone) a vessel such as Napoleon would need a hard paint due to our regular cruising speeds. Ablative paint would just slough off too quickly at our speeds.
 
Having pulled her for Earl I had a good look at the bottom today. I had a thick sweater on the outside hulls but surprisingly I had very little sweater on the inside hulls/tunnel.

Next year will be the Trinidad-SR but at least the Vivid resulted in just half a sweater :)

I took her for a little run at regular cruise RPM and my usual cruise speed returned as one would expect with a cleaner bottom.
 
Earl was a non-event in Boston. In fact, the passing cold front today resulted in more wind than Earl. The Cape got a little more but basically nothing.

It ended up being a good thing for me to pull it out as it gave me the opportunity to power wash it for part 2 of the season. I'm in through Halloween.

How about you?
 
Mine sits on a lift, so no problems. Will haul it next weekend to do some work in prep to haul it to Oriental NC for the NC CBHT the last week of Sept and then to the Outer Banks for a family beach week. Thinking of having a couple of guys come detail it while out, wax and everything. I'm getting too damn old to clamber around like I'd have to to do that!

Got some business travel this next week (Gulf Coast) and then a Navy Symposium in VA Beach the week after so my boat time is limited for a little while.

You had an easy time BECAUSE you hauled the boat!! :thup

Was that your boat in the Boat US magazine?

Charlie
 
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