Battling Barnacles

Rick, If I get a chance I think the mid-season pull fro the water and cleaning could go a long way to minimizing the problem.We'll have to see if time allows this year.

Good luck.
 
Until they come up with a more effective barnacle paint, a mid season cleaning is the best way to avoid a huge clean up when you haul the boat out in the fall. I have found that you get growth even with 3 brushed on coats of Trilux.....
 
quote:
Originally posted by MikeeH

My problem with an airdock is the lack of electric at the dock. It says you can fill it with an inverter and battery but I'm don't think a battery will hold up that long.
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Good point. Do you have a portable generator? That would work just fine.
 
Folks,
I started having barnacle problems when I moved my inboard boat from an upriver location in a marina where the water was brackish to a lagoon off the Barnegat Bay,
After talking with bottom paint mfg I started applying a primer to all underwater metal surfaces before painting with bottom paint

I now use Primocon which is made by Interlux, others probably have a similar product. I apply it every year even over remains of bottom paint.

The frustration I had was that there was still bottom paint under the barnacles when they were removed.
The reason barnacles can form is that there is an galvanic action between the underwater bronze and the copper in the bottom paint. The copper leaches out leaving the bottom paint totally ineffective.
The primer works since it provides an electrical isolation between the underwater fitting and the copper in the paint so that the copper does not leach out as quickly.
My experience is good with this procedure and it significantly reduces the removal of barnacles.

Obviously this is not intended for aluminum out drives.
 
Every copper based bottom paint, in my experience, had a non-conducting primer as part of their recommended procedures.

The "newer" non-metallic, biocide types may be different ( I don't know. It's been a while and last time I looked at this stuff, the non-metallic types didn't work worth a hoot in this area. Launch a naked bottom around here and you can almost watch the barnacles start their new construction. )
 
Last month we went back to the monthly bottom cleaning schedule. Divers charges $1.50 per foot with an annual contract. Winter time we go 5 to 7 weeks between cleaning.
 
Don,

You use the Primocon then regular paint? I've tried the Primocon with the trilux paint without much luck.
 
Bob,
I use the Primocon with Pettit ablative normally the one year stuff which is reasonable price.
I paint the bottom every year and probably have several coats of Primocon on the metal. I do not clean to bare metal before painting.

Kevdon
 
Petit ablative for the bottom... not a single barnacle. Stern drives with trilux.... covered and coated with barnacles. My boat when it was hauled could have been a great ad for Petit showing the contrast between a piece of the boat covered in their product vs. a piece not.

--Rick
 
What Pettit ablative did you use? I have wondered if the Pettit Aluma coat or whatever they call it now is better than Trilux. They also have a relatively new alu safe paint called Vivid, I think both of their alu safe paints use zinc as the active ingredient.
 
quote:
Originally posted by LouC

What Pettit ablative did you use? I have wondered if the Pettit Aluma coat or whatever they call it now is better than Trilux. They also have a relatively new alu safe paint called Vivid, I think both of their alu safe paints use zinc as the active ingredient.

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For the bottom I used Pettit Hydrocoat Anti Fouling Ablative Paint 1840 Black. Not a single barnacle.... it looked great and showed no signs of wear....until they used some acid to get off the filth off just above the ablative and when it ran down the side and bottom of the boat, made greenish stripes in the black paint.

--Rick
 
Thanks, I am thinking of having all the old bottom paint stripped off my old boat (like more than 10 coats worth) and having it barrier coated and then use an ablative paint instead of hard epoxies I have used in the past.
 
Lou, that is what my boat had before I went to the Air Dock system. I did that when the boat was brand new. But the bottom, transom and outdrive still needed to be scrubbed and powerwashed three times each summer to keep it from being a "drag" on the power.
 
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