Anti-Fouling Paint on Inflatable

Anti-Fouling paint on Inflatable dinghy

OK, so I bought another dinghy - a soft bottom.
Has anyone here ever used Pettit Anti-Fouling paint on their inflatable dink?
Specifically, the PVC cloth section.
Had any success?

Yes.

I have a RIB and use Aquaguard Inflatable paint. on the fiberglass hull and on the inflatable sides. Never had it crack when the tubes soften during storage and it does a good job of keeping growth off the bottom.

Dave

magicbus

how did you prep the surface?
I live in an area where just about anything boat related can NOT be purchased locally. Since I will be internet ordering, I want to make sure I don't forget something.
I could find no info on the Aquagard prepping procedure. I know with Pettit it requires it's own brand Number 97 thinner for prepping. Do I need to order anything special for Aquagard?

No prep work whatsoever and it washes up with water. If I had the guts I'd use it on my trawler... although I may switch to Pettit's water cleanup this year. I use their regular ablative and their zinc spray for underwater hardware so I trust them. The Aquagard was the only one I could find that would talk about being used on the inflatable so I gave it a try and have used it for two years and will use it again.

Dave

Dave

Does your dink live in the water most of the time or does it live in davits or the roof?

The reason I ask is because Pettit Anti-Fouling Paint for Inflatable Boats is more expensive than the Aquagard but has almost twice the cuprous oxide as the Aquaguard.
That's why I will be sleeping on it before I order tomorrow morning. It's about $20/Qt higher and I will need about a qt and a half which is really 2 qts.

This freshewater micro life is way tougher than anything I ever saw in salt water.

Thanks for the input. At least now I know it actually works

Interesting that Pettit has an inflatable paint. I may check that out.

I am curious as to how big a dinghy you have! I have an 11 foot Caribe and one quart lasts me 2 seasons.

The first season I painted the bottom and left it in the water just inside an inlet in Barnegat Light, NJ for 3-4 months with zero issues. The next season I put on the second half of the can and it went back into the water in NJ for 3 months then onto the boat for 3 months and then it went into the water in Florida in February for 6 weeks. When it came out at the end of March it had a bunch of growth but using a brush and hose most all came off, just a few baby barnacles I will need to knock off when I get back there this winter.

Florida is pretty brutal on bottoms and I really should have painted fresh when I got there. Interesting that Pettit has an inflatable paint. I may check that out because, as I mentioned, I really like their bottom paint and zinc spray for the big boat.

Dave

I just bought a used 12' Saturn soft bottom inflatable.
This Tennessee River groth is the worst stuff I ever saw and that is why I'm inclined to go with the Pettit. the down side of Pettit is that it only comes in black whereas the Aquaguard comes in light gray. The black 'rub off' may not be a good idea on the white hull of my Mainship.

Anyway, my next question is.......How did you mark your waterline?
I was thinking of leaving it in the water for a day or 2 and then marking off the slime line and adding 2 more inches of height. how did you do yours ?


More Info:

I will probably also order the Pettit 97 Thinner as recommended for cleaning and prepping no matter which bottom paint I get. I'm sure that the Aquaguard and Pettit are pretty much the same except for the higher cuprous Oxide content in the Pettit.

I will probably go with the Pettit myself next season. As for the waterline I did exactly what you plan to do. Left it in for a few days and then pulled it and taped a couple of inches above the slime line. Too bad about Pettit only coming in black. The gray disappears into the gray of the inflatable.

Just a thought when you mentioned the thinner... you have PVC right? It just occurred to me I have Hypalon. Make sure the thinner is OK with PVC.

Dave

Yes, the No. 97 Thinner is actually an Epoxy Thinner and is used for cleaning rubberized surfaces which includes Hypolon and PVC even though the rubberized surfaces are synthetic.
I will follow the instructions since it would be in Pettit's own best interests if I succeed.
Pettit product descriptions give all the info you need for cleaning and prepping with this thinner. The paint itself is water based and can be thinned with water.

I would think that all of the Pettit Info should also apply to Aquaguard since the products are chemically very similar.

I think I will go ahead and get the Aquaguard mainly because of the light gray color available. If it doesn't perform well, I can always re-coat with the Pettit.

Remind me in a few months and I will know how ell it did,


Regards

Done !

I received my Pettit Anti-Fouling Paint for Inflatables and the recommended No.97 Epoxy Thinner for prepping.
The First photo is the dink sitting in the water.
The next 2 photos show the blue masking tape and the last 2 photos show the black bottom paint.
After only 2 hours of drying, I bumped and casually rubbed against the bottom paint and it didn't come off on me. I'm sure if I tried
a vigorous rubbing it would come off but probably no more so than on my Mainship 36.

If someone will remind me in about 2 or 3 months from now, I will let you know how it worked out.

Looks good!

Dave

Thanks

I put it in water today with O/B, full 6 gallon gas can and
all water was below the painted waterline. Also small anchor and rope.

With the admiral and myself, it will plane at a little over half throttle.
I have a fairly new Tohatsu 9.8 to push it. I cant believe all of the room I have. My largest inflatable in the past was 10' and much narrower beam than this one. As a matter of fact, this is the first time I ever used the seat in any of my dinks and didn't mind it there. It just wasn't in the way.

I know I will have to extend my davits a little longer, possibly as much as 8", and that's just a guess. Then I will see how much trouble I will have getting through the locks with the dink sticking out 1 foot on each side of my stern. Until I mess with it I wont know. It might simply be a matter of just swinging the davits over.

This dink is just an experiment to see how well it will work out as far as size goes.