What Bottom Paint Do You Have on Your Boat

[thataway]

Good decision Pat. The water in the Northern part of the loop, can be cold--or it can be fairly warm--depending on the year, and body of water. But there is enough in the marine growth section to make it worth while.

The zincs became a slightly different issue. Probably OK--if you watch them. But marinas or boats occasionally are miss-wirred, and there can be stray currents from other boats. This in itself can cause issues. You will probably want different zincs on the motor as you go along--Mg for the upper part, aluminum for brackish to sea water--check with your friend.

Also have the internal zincs done if you have not already done them.

What is your plan for oil changes, and lower unit lube change? This is one area where it is actually easier with inboard engines. On our long voyages where I had to run the engine for several thousand miles--such as the run from Panama to Calif--I would stop the engine and do oil changes when at sea. Also the injector pumps on my diesel had a change interval of 50 hours--we cheated a bit on that one--and did it at 150 hours. We were running the engine almost continuously for over 25 days.

 

[journey on]

Pat, I cruised the Great Loop in a boat with bottom paint and I still got growth. Those southern waters really promote growth. But what I really wanted to show you what happens to a bottom without any paint.

This is our dingy, which we used daily. Usually we hoisted it out at night on a spare halyard, but I got lazy. This is a weeks growth in the Chesapeake. Took an hour for 2 people scrubbing to get rid of the junk.

I just re-painted the bottom of Journey On with Pettit Hydrocoat. And we normally boat in the cold Pacific.

Boris

 

[Pat Anderson]

What is your plan for oil changes, and lower unit lube change? This is one area where it is actually easier with inboard engines. On our long voyages where I had to run the engine for several thousand miles--such as the run from Panama to Calif--I would stop the engine and do oil changes when at sea. Also the injector pumps on my diesel had a change interval of 50 hours--we cheated a bit on that one--and did it at 150 hours. We were running the engine almost continuously for over 25 days.

We had a fresh motor service before we left for Arizona, and I have five Honda oil filters, a water pump rebuild kit and a couple of fuel-water separator cartridges on board. Pete at West Coast Marine thought I did not need spark plugs or a thermostat, but I might check back with him before we leave. The plan is to have mechanics at marinas do all boat maintenance, including the oil change and lower unit lube, as well as zincs as needed. Apparently Derrick and Daveen had no trouble getting Grace Full serviced on their Loop. I will check with Flint Firestone though and see what his plan is.

 

[JamesTXSD]

You'll find out, Pat, as you cruise the Loop. :wink:

 

[Saxe Point]

"Harvey, why oh why do you think you need bottom paint? We have never used bottom paint in 11 years, and have never observed any consequence from NOT using bottom paint. I'd love to hear your rationale here. Your boat sits on a trailer and is mostly (entirely?) cruised in cold waters at planing speed. What does bottom paint do for you other than give you something to do on the boat?"

Hi Pat,

Two summers ago I spent about 2 months on the water, almost continuously, but there were a couple of trailer haul brakes of 2-3 days scattered in-between so there was some drying time. The longest stretch IIRC was 3 weeks in the water. I had some slime growth to clean each time I pulled, but that was it.


Last summer, I spent almost 3 months in the water. The first break was at 48 days. I had 2 inch hair, fuzz all over and barnacles the size of pencil erasers on the bottom, again in only 48 days. I have about 40 hours in cleaning the bottom, scraping the barnacles, shaving the barnacle roots that are left after the scraping, and unless I do bottom paint, a limitation of a maximum of 3 weeks in the water without getting serious bottom growth AGAIN :twisted:

So, now I am looking at realistically limiting my continuous boating stretches to close to 2 weeks unless I do bottom paint. (I would much rather be spending the $$ on fuel than paint, but looking at long term plans, it seems like the paint is an investment in future boating pleasures.)

Most of my days on the water are spent at anchor, but I moved nearly every day. Some days I would only be on the move for an hour or two, some more than that. Most days, most of my moving time was at 5.5 knots or so. Every day had some time moving at planing speed, which I thought was helping to keep the bottom clean. It was either not enough moving, or not enough moving at planning speeds, or I was wrong :roll: and moving makes no difference. Time in the water == growth on the bottom.

Seriously, do you really not have bottom paint on Daydream, even with your plans for spending months on the water, warm water, mixed fresh and salt, and in sunny, warm climates. Unless you are planning to haul out and clean I would reconsider, and thing bottom paint for sure. Just guessing, but after several haul outs and hull cleaning fees, you are approaching bottom paint $$$$'s. (I thought Bitter End did bottom paint for you when you had the detailing done and prepping for the Loop.)

Harvey
SleepyC:moon

I am just across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Hardee. I started mooring my boat [unfortunately not a C-Dory, yet] for one month two summers ago. Now I'm going to be mooring it full time because it just allows me to use and enjoy my boat so much more. I also get to avoid all the hassles at the ramp and with loading etc.

This past summer I put it in the water with no bottom paint and had to haul it out about six weeks later. Massive amounts of growth attached to the hull very quickly and it really cut my speed down very significantly and obviously hurt fuel economy in a big way as well.

The stuff was a nuisance to get off. I left the boat in the driveway on the trailer all winter. Now that it's getting warmer I am going to clean the hull, sand it, prime it and get bottom paint on. A fresh coat or even just touch-ups every couple of years is a piece of cake and usually all that is required, according to my boating and fishing friends here in Sooke.

I can't imagine anybody spending the time and/or money to struggle to keep the bottom clean when you can get bottom paint on and save so much hassle. Admittedly if you're just trailering all the time, it's certainly not necessary. But I was absolutely astonished at how much fouling attached to the hull and how quickly it happened. I can only imagine what it's like further south.

I'm going to use black Aquagard (Flexdel). Reasonably priced and seems to have good reviews.

 

[Pat Anderson]

See above.I am set up with Bitter End Boatworks for bottom paint when we get back to Washington State.

 

[Phil Barnes]

Pat,
Jesse did a good job on our CD 22. I should have had the boat loaded and marked the water line as I didn't bring the bottom paint up quite high enough in the stern for a cruise loaded boat. The only real consequence is that I have some more elbow grease involved in cleaning the small area above the paint and below the water line at the stern. It is ok when not loaded for cruising.

The other option is to have Jesse splash the boat at the yard, mark the existing unloaded water line and bring the paint up above that mark. Helps to have full water and fuel on board to get the best water line marking that you can.

Jesse will have a recommendation for how high to bring the paint up above the unloaded water line.

We have our boat in the water for 3 months each summer in the San Juans and have found that the bottom paint has made for better fuel economy, minimal growth and a lot less work when we pull it out. We could get by for two weeks with intermittent use without growth but that was about it. One could go longer if underway each day at planing speed.

Have a GREAT time on the Great Loop! We will be watching for stories and updates periodically.

 

[Pat Anderson]

Pat,
Jesse did a good job on our CD 22. I should have had the boat loaded and marked the water line as I didn't bring the bottom paint up quite high enough in the stern for a cruise loaded boat. The only real consequence is that I have some more elbow grease involved in cleaning the small area above the paint and below the water line at the stern. It is ok when not loaded for cruising.

The other option is to have Jesse splash the boat at the yard, mark the existing unloaded water line and bring the paint up above that mark. Helps to have full water and fuel on board to get the best water line marking that you can.

Jesse will have a recommendation for how high to bring the paint up above the unloaded water line.

We have our boat in the water for 3 months each summer in the San Juans and have found that the bottom paint has made for better fuel economy, minimal growth and a lot less work when we pull it out. We could get by for two weeks with intermittent use without growth but that was about it. One could go longer if underway each day at planing speed.

Have a GREAT time on the Great Loop! We will be watching for stories and updates periodically.

Jesse told me the price include splashing the boat to mark the waterline. I will ask him about going above the line to accommodate our actual cruising waterline.

Think we are so lucky in Bellingham to have Jesse at Bitter End and Pete at West Coast Marine, not to mention LFS and Redden!

 

[journey on]

Pat, I had my Honda serviced at West Coast Marine a couple of years ago. I finally rebuilt the carb myself, though I paid them to do it.

After they service your Honda, made sure you sea trial it before you have to use it.

Boris

 

[Pat Anderson]

Pat, I had my Honda serviced at West Coast Marine a couple of years ago. I finally rebuilt the carb myself, though I paid them to do it.

After they service your Honda, made sure you sea trial it before you have to use it.

Boris

Boris, West Coast Marine has done all the service on Daydream for the last 11 years, even when we lived in Fall City, and we have never had any problem. YMMV obviously! A dumb question, isn't the Honda BF150 fuel injected rather than carbureted?

We now live 15 miles away, and if I ever called with a question or issue, Pete would say "Bring it in and let me take a look."

 

[hardee]

Pat, When I talked to Jesse, he did indicate he put the boat into the water to find the waterline, and then would paint above that, (distance to vary but about 2 inches +/-) depending on load at the time vs typical cruising load.

Jesse certainly put me at ease re dropping the boat off and coming back having everything done right.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[jennykatz]

About 3 years ago i took the paint down to the gelcoat and applied 3 coats of epoxy paint and 2 coat of ablative bottom paint from West Marine .Here in SW Fl. if you don't paint the bottom within a week you will have barnacles and growth within a week .I usually do touch up for 2 years next year probably a full paint job again (bottom paint) .

Pat when you are down in Florida for your great Loop give a call or PM so we can meet up Jim

 

[jennykatz]

Can you put the hydrocote paint over ablative ? I like the idea of water wash up thanks JIM

 

[journey on]

The two labels are not mutually exclusive. Hydrocoat means water based, so hyrdocoat can be ablative. For example, I just painted Journey On's bottom with Pettit Hydrocoat which is an ablative paint.

Boris

 

[cmetzenberg]

So i just had a booboo below the waterline. It's all better now and i'll talk about it on another thread....lets just say that my bilge pump auto on feature works great. Anyways... I'm not at a point that i need to put on bottom paint. The boat came with bottom paint but i'm not sure what brand or type, just some kind of black ablative paint. What should i paint over it with?

 

[thataway]

I use the black Vivid it will work over ablative and hard. If there is a repair, the surface wax or amine should be removed, and then sanded before any paint.

 

[gulfcoast john]

Conrad,

If your 2007 bottom job is still doing well after 14 years, I would try very hard to use the same brand again.

If you want to do it yourself in the driveway, you want to use a low VOC, water soluble paint that is not HAZMAT in the trash to stay legal and healthy. Pettit says that if the underlying coating is in good shape (not flaking and peeling), 80 sandpaper, power washing, and/or a green Scotchpad can give enough “grip” for Hydrocoat. I don’t have a boat lift (Bob does), and I contend with a very shallow warm basin marina with little circulation that is a bottompaint’s nightmare. But I can slap on a couple of coats every 2 years or so (plus a diver cleaning service, since we may not cruise enough to ablate enough if we stay local in the summer, to take care of the sponson area that rests on the trailer bunks).

Hydrocoat is 40% copper and can not be shaken on a machine. Buy a 5 gal rated drill paint mixer, a 2.5g disposable plastic bucket and three to six 3/16 six inch rollers at HD. 1 gallon will do the exterior sponsons x2 and most of the tunnel. Switch to Pettit ECO (no metals) for the Armstrong aluminum bracket.

Bob has consistently extracted much better service from his Pettit Vivid than I have from Pettit Hydrocoat. It could be from his better conditions, or from Vivid being a better product. I wish we could tell which it was for sure!

Best of luck, and hope this is helpful!

John

 

[PaulNBriannaLynn]

I've been using interlux micron 66 for the last few years. The high copper content really helped keep the barnacles and growth at bay when we lived on the coast and had a dock. It's not cheap but really is effective.

Recently I had an incident with some uncharted rocks that nicked up our bottom, so after doing the repairs I needed to touch up the paint. I decided to try Rustoleum's ablative bottom paint after reading a few brats speak highly of it. Its quite a bit cheaper and according to the label also has a good amount of copper in it as well. It blended well with the previous coat of interlux, and looks good. I'm a believer and will probably use it from now on based on its more than competitive price and quality.

 

[cmetzenberg]

No idea about what the previous bottom paint is. It's showing through in many areas due to bunk rub and general wear. I'm not too worried about VOCs as a i have a full face respirator with organic vapor cartridges.
This boat doesn't really need any bottom paint as it's only in the water for a few days at a time before being put back on the trailer, but the previous owner put it on so here i am.

Bob,
pettit vivid over the interlux csc?

Conrad,

If your 2007 bottom job is still doing well after 14 years, I would try very hard to use the same brand again.

If you want to do it yourself in the driveway, you want to use a low VOC, water soluble paint that is not HAZMAT in the trash to stay legal and healthy. Pettit says that if the underlying coating is in good shape (not flaking and peeling), 80 sandpaper, power washing, and/or a green Scotchpad can give enough “grip” for Hydrocoat. I don’t have a boat lift (Bob does), and I contend with a very shallow warm basin marina with little circulation that is a bottompaint’s nightmare. But I can slap on a couple of coats every 2 years or so (plus a diver cleaning service, since we may not cruise enough to ablate enough if we stay local in the summer, to take care of the sponson area that rests on the trailer bunks).

Hydrocoat is 40% copper and can not be shaken on a machine. Buy a 5 gal rated drill paint mixer, a 2.5g disposable plastic bucket and three to six 3/16 six inch rollers at HD. 1 gallon will do the exterior sponsons x2 and most of the tunnel. Switch to Pettit ECO (no metals) for the Armstrong aluminum bracket.

Bob has consistently extracted much better service from his Pettit Vivid than I have from Pettit Hydrocoat. It could be from his better conditions, or from Vivid being a better product. I wish we could tell which it was for sure!

Best of luck, and hope this is helpful!

John

 

[thataway]

Bob,
pettit vivid over the interlux csc?

Conrad, I have not used the Interlus CSC. The Vivid has worked well for me as a paint which holds up multiyear when the boat is trailer or sling kept, yet has to be in the water for months at a time. For instance the Caracal Cat is the boat we took to the keys with our RV. The boat would be in the water for 3 months and no significant growth. It holds up to multiple trailer launches...

In the Florida Keys, a boat without bottom paint will have significant growth starting in a week. Those without bottom paint have to pull the boat out every week and pressure wash it. This is every with daily use.

It is entirely possible that the Interlux CSC is equally as good.