You Get What You Pay For

[menzies]

I use Pier 88 diving and it is charged by the foot. It usually runs between $180 and $250 for my 53 footer varying by zincs required.
I have the diver come three times a year, Sonas is kept in fresh water where the only real bother is white worm which is easily kept off by the paint. So mostly it is a thin coat of algae which can be minimized by using the boat often.

 

[hmason]

"I had a really nice experience in November. My diver had cleaned the boat about a month before and replaced the zincs, all but the transom bonding plates. His report was that she was good to go, didn't need a paint job for at least another year, paint is three years old. There were two areas to comment on. The first was right at the front bottom of the keel where the paint had rubbed off (wonder why ), and the other a little nick out of the port prop, but nothing to cause any issues."

That is great paint life. What kind of bottom paint do you use? Thanks.

 

[menzies]

Sherwin Williams, Seaguard AF black. P30BQ12.

 

[Mikala]

Not to stereotype or anything, but in my area bottom cleaners and landscapers get quite comfortable on long term agreements. The work is great at the beginning and declines over months and years.

 

[menzies]

I don't have an agreement - he comes when I call. No scheduled cleaning.

 

[boomerang]

I use Pier 88 diving and it is charged by the foot. It usually runs between $180 and $250 for my 53 footer varying by zincs required.
I have the diver come three times a year, Sonas is kept in fresh water where the only real bother is white worm which is easily kept off by the paint. So mostly it is a thin coat of algae which can be minimized by using the boat often.

When I read you got 3 years out of your bottom paint job I was wondering what your secret was but then you disclosed it...the majority of time in fresh water. It must be nice!

 

[menzies]

...the majority of time in fresh water. It must be nice!

Well yes, and no. We did two months in the Bahamas and then two and a half months in the Chesapeake in 2018, plus other local salt water trips. Of course when we do that the boat is moving a lot!

 

[BandB]

When I read you got 3 years out of your bottom paint job I was wondering what your secret was but then you disclosed it...the majority of time in fresh water. It must be nice!

We get 2 1/2 years or so and could probably get 3 and our key is a good quality hard paint (not ablative) and regular bottom cleaning so it's never scraped, never pressure washed, just wiped. Obviously we don't get that from Prop Speed.

 

[Commander Nomad]

Thanks BandB. Do they normally charge per foot or per hour. I would imagine hourly at least the first time, not knowing how bad it may be. Can you tell me how much is customary in your area. I had it hauled in the spring of 2017 for new bottom paint but nothing since then. I am sure it will be a while to clean it underwater. Thanks

They'll charge by the foot, with a surcharge if it is especially bad.

I bought my boat on the Ohio River, and recently brought it down to the coast via Pickwick and the TennTom. Last bottom job was 2015, no diver since then, in the water 24/7 since 2015. We hauled out in Mobile and the growth was really light. A couple mussels and some muddy slime, way better than what a month in salt water would look like.

You won't have much to clean, it'll take a diver an hour or less.

 

[FlyWright]

In SW Florida scrubbing the bottom, cleaning running gear, and checking anodes runs $2 a foot for my 45' boat with a monthly contract. Beyond a certain size, the rate either changes or they add in the beam as surface area of a boat bottom grows much faster than length. Some divers such as the one I use in Maryland, charge an hourly rate.

Ted

I'm surprised you don't dive on your own boat. Do you travel with your dive gear?

If I understand O C Diver's post, the cleaner the water the longer period between cleanings. What frequency would be needed or recommended for the Cumberland River, in your opinion?

I berth in Vallejo, on the line between salt and fresh. I pretty much operate equally in both waters so it naturally prevents lots of growth. I used to keep my boat in the fresh waters of the Delta. I have a hard bottom paint, Shark-something or other.

In the Delta, I didn't really need a diver in 4-5 years. Hired a diver once who told me the truth...hired him again when I needed my props pulled. My covered slip was great for preventing growth on all but the outer third. Regular use kept that at bay.

In Vallejo, I have a diver come every 3 months at about $3/ft. His biggest role to date has been maintaining zincs, but we have a handle on that now. Hauled the boat 2 years ago after 6 years on the water. Paint could have gone another year or two but they repainted anyway. I'm sold on hard paint.

Do divers prefer hard or ablative? How about owners? Is boat speed a factor in the choice? Hard for slow and ablative for fast?

Florida waters seem brutal for boat bottoms!!

 

[O C Diver]

I'm surprised you don't dive on your own boat. Do you travel with your dive gear?

I carry scuba gear with a surface supplied scuba tank hookah system. Scrubbing a light scum is one thing, heavier growth is another. My boat's hull has a lot of surface area. It takes me the better part of 3 hours to throughly clean it. For $90, I'm ok without the satisfaction of doing it myself.

Ted

 

[BandB]

I'm surprised you don't dive on your own boat. Do you travel with your dive gear?



I berth in Vallejo, on the line between salt and fresh. I pretty much operate equally in both waters so it naturally prevents lots of growth. I used to keep my boat in the fresh waters of the Delta. I have a hard bottom paint, Shark-something or other.

In the Delta, I didn't really need a diver in 4-5 years. Hired a diver once who told me the truth...hired him again when I needed my props pulled. My covered slip was great for preventing growth on all but the outer third. Regular use kept that at bay.

In Vallejo, I have a diver come every 3 months at about $3/ft. His biggest role to date has been maintaining zincs, but we have a handle on that now. Hauled the boat 2 years ago after 6 years on the water. Paint could have gone another year or two but they repainted anyway. I'm sold on hard paint.

Do divers prefer hard or ablative? How about owners? Is boat speed a factor in the choice? Hard for slow and ablative for fast?

Florida waters seem brutal for boat bottoms!!

There are so many factors so location, usage and type boat all factor in. A few factors.

Traditional hard paints contain biocides which are designed to repel growth. However, those biocides quickly diminish if the boat is kept out of the water for any period. Biocides lose some effectiveness anyway over time.

Ablatives wear away themselves but allow the growth to attach. To be effective, ablatives need to be on boats getting regular use.

Copolymer paints are somewhere in between as they don't wear away as fast as ablatives.

There are also now teflon paints. They do better on high speed hulls.

Then there are silicone based paints. They are "foul-release" coatings with no biocide but they are very slick and easily release growth at high speed or when cleaning.

There are paints like Micron that have biocides but also the paint polishes away.

Now, it's far more complicated because very few paints fit into just a single category now. They're hard ablative's or or ablative's with biocides or hard paints which release rather than requiring scrubbing.

Paint companies have pretty decent quizzes on their sites to tell you which of their paints to use. My experience is each company makes some excellent paints but it's choosing the right one for your circumstances. We don't use the same one on all our boats because of the use and speed differences.

The final points are that you are limited somewhat as to what can go over what. Not as limited as some would have you believe but still you can't just do anything you want and the right paint for a professional application may not be right for do it yourself as some are far more difficult to apply correctly.

Here is Pettit's selector:

Pettit Paints - PERFECT PICK selector system

And Interlux:

https://interlux.com/en/us/boat-paint/antifouling

And Sea Hawk's:

Bottom Paint Selector

 

[Dougcole]

Just for the sake of info for the board.


We used to keep our boat in Stuart, near sunset bay marina, salty side of brackish. I had my diver on a monthly contract, $60 a month. I would get 2 to 2.5 years out of a bottom job, ablative, brands didn't seem to matter that much.


Before Hurricane Irma in the fall of '17, I moved the boat way up the Lost River, pretty much fresh. Now my diver comes every three months or when I call him. He says it is always clean, and that I call him too often. I'm on 3.5 years on this bottom job so far. It's a nice $ savings over the long run.

 

[FlyWright]

That's the one!

https://www.seahawkpaints.com/product/sharkskin/

Thanks B

 

[fstbttms]

A few comments from a professional hull diver about what has been posted in this thread.

1.- Powerboat hull cleaning rates run about $3.50-$4.00/foot here in the Bay Area. More for vessels over 45’-50’.

2.- In my business, while we are happy to provide pix or video upon request but with approximately 600 clients, it would be a full time job just dealing with downloading and editing all the images we’d generate if we did that on every single job.

3.- Someone expressed surprise at a report of getting three years out of a bottom. I don’t Under that at all. In California, 3-4 years out of a properly maintained, high quality, copper-based paint is typical. On a related point- no diver enjoys cleaning a really soft ablative paint. In fact, I only ever recommend two anti fouling paints, neither of which are really soft ablatives. Pettit Trinidad (hard) and Interlux Micron 66 (hybrid ablative.) All other paints run a distant second at best, IMHO.

 

[jimisbell]

Anyone ever use E-paint? Its a photo ablative paint, biocide (Zinc Omadine) that cleans the waterline near the surface very well by being photo ablative. I have gotten 5 years out of it on a sailboat and no cleaning. I sold the sailboat and now have a Mainship 34 that the diver says doesnt need a bottom job yet (dives twice a year, Sept and April). I have enough E-paint leftover from the sailboat days to do it when the time comes. Reading this thread I am surprised at the success I have had because I am in very warm water on the Texas south coast.