bottom paint

J

jmeirhofer

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Next spring it will be time to refresh the bottom paint. However there is a very good chance we will be moving it back to FL in October/November next year. I have ebbn told there will be a covered slip for me at Patrick AFB next fall.

So my question is; what is the difference in bottom paints there vs. the Chesapeake? I could move to a Marina like Pleasure Cove in the spring and dry stack for the summer and wait on the bottom until I get it to FL. The cost of a covered dry stack is about the same as where I am now.

I just do not want to paint twice in the same year. It is an added expense I can do without.
 
John,
First, what's on the bottom now? If its ablative you'll need to either stick with ablative or strip the bottom before putting on a hard paint. Beyond that happy news, it is my understanding that, if the boat will stay in the water all year with only short haul-outs for maintenance, hard paint is the best choice.
 
It is an ablative paint. Applied Feb last year just before bringing it up here. It could probably stand to have it done now. It was always my understanding that the waters you boat in determines what type of ablative paint you should put on the bottom.

I have also consideredd stripping the bottom this time. 15 years worth of paint can't be light.
 
Ablative paint out of water; no problem. Fresh copper will be exposed as paint wears away.
Hard paint out of water, No Good! Copper on surface oxidizes & becomes ineffective. You could lightly sand the hard paint exposing fresh copper thus making it like ablative.
 
I'm on my fourth season in Lake Erie with this paint. It went on like latex wall paint, no continued mixing. I haven't seen it out of the water yet this year but still looked good last weekend in the water.

http://www.supershipbottom.com/
 
So I just read all about it on their page. They say it will last 18 months if you are staying in the water or 3-4 6 month seasons out of water. To me that does not seem to be that great considering what is on there now will be two years old in February and just now needing replacement. It seems to be on par with what was probably the cheapest paint going when they did my bottom at purchase.

From what I have been able to read and since no one here has responded any different, it appears that there really is not much difference in the type of paint used in the Chesapeake vs. Florida. So I likely will wind up doing the bottom paint in the spring here. Unless I decide to dry stack it for the 8 months prior to shipping it to FL. Then I may wait until I get there anyway.

So I guess my inquiry really did not solve anything for me.
 
John,

I just had my 58 done this last week. We use ablative paint. You can use hard paint in SW florida, but it requires more diver bottom time. With the ablative, we have the running gear cleaned and the algae falls off as we are running. 18 to 24 months is the norm.

Haul, zincs, paint, and splash $4,700.00

Ken
 
John, one thing to be aware of if you use Micron Interlux paint is: Their top of the line paint is Micron 66 and the next is Micron extra. I sometimes have my boat painted in MD on the Chesapeake and then head to FL later in the year. The Micron 66 is well thought of on FL but cannot be used in fresh water (or well up the Chesapeake in the inner harbor). As such, we have used the micron extra in this situation as it is their next best ablative paint compatible with all types of water and can be hauled and relaunched without a problem. While you may get many answers as to the best paint, I definitely prefer an ablative (no build up over time) and the Micron extra has worked reasonably well for me, but I have to say that I have found that two seasons is really pushing it if you cover many miles. I think with 1 1/2 heavy coats (if I remember 3 gallons on our 50 ft boat) the paint is good for maybe 2500 miles at a 20 knt cruise and that past about 3000 miles there isnt a lot of paint left, YMMV.
 
The recent (October) issue of Practical Sailor mag has results of their tests of hard and ablative paints after both 9 and 20 months with ratings for Florida. Send me PM with your address I will send you photocopy if you can't find the issue. Larry
 
Thanks all for the suggestions and comments.

Ken - by the foot that is about what it cost Jan 10. The receipt the owner gave me showed $3254.

Larry, I should be able to find it on line. Tans for offering to send it o me though.. if I can't find it I will be in touch.

Rick - by my estimate I have about 1600 miles on it. Just over 1100 on our trip up from Florida and the rest around the Chesapeake. Once we move the bat to Fl it likely won't get as much use. The "plan" is to go to fl for most of January, May, and September. With at least one trip to the Bahamas each year and the other two trips up and down the coast finding places we like. by the time we get the boat there we will have just over 5 years before moving there. Unless my co offers me an early retirement.

Back to the paint I too think ablative is the way to go. Are there any colors that are worse than others. I would like to use a like blue rather than the current black. Not sure if that is n option. The boat will be in a covered slip if that makes a difference. Do you paint your running gear with anything?
 
John,

I'm only in FL waters 1 month out of the year. But this last trip my outdrive paint (on my outboard mounts) was shot and I got a TON of green growth in the Bahamas. But the Interlux Micron Extra has never had an issue in MD or FL for me. So if Rick has had that good of luck too, that might be a good choice. Through dumb luck the first two coats of that paint I ever put on were a different color than what I use now. So I don't repaint until I see the original color showing through. I don't know how many miles we do per year, but we do put on about 150 hours each year, and I only have to repaint about every 3-4 years (touch-ups are annual). I finally did it myself this year and it was not a bad job at all. My first power-wash in many years stripped it down quite a bit and I rolled new on. Nothing to it.

NOTE: I find that excessive power washing is a waste of bottom paint and money. I just did a short-haul today and used a regular hose to get the crap off. The water falling off the boat did not turn the color of the paint.
 
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