Best performing bottom paint in fresh water

Posting here because I figured it may be the best place to get help on this from other freshwater boaters. Northern Lights II is getting the gel on the bottom peeled and the 4 coats of interprotect 2000 barrier epoxy coating. I've been using an ablative bottom paint and haven't been very happy with its performance. Woolsey yacht shield allows growth even though I use my boat 9 months out of the year at 100 + hours. What have you guys who boat in fairly warm fresh water mid 80s during the summer found that best retards growth? I'am leaning towards a hard paint instead of ablative now but responses here could change that. Thank you for sharing your experience.

I'm happy with our hard black AF paint, no idea the brand. I dive on my boat and there is nearly no growth at all. Some boats in my shed look like they have a little lettuce growing on them.

Not sure our water temps ever get that high though. One of the other Delta Rats may come along that pays more attention to that.

Temps on Lake Michigan rarely make it above 70 even on the surface. Makes me wonder why I am having a coat of AF paint applied this year.

The major paint manufacturers have guides on their websites to help you pick the best paint for your boat and conditions. I recommend that you check these sites.

Also, ask your diver or other divers in your area what products work best in your area.

rwidman said:

The major paint manufacturers have guides on their websites to help you pick the best paint for your boat and conditions. I recommend that you check these sites.

Also, ask your diver or other divers in your area what products work best in your area.

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I don't use a diver and no one else in the marina uses one to clean hulls, there are no local divers that I'am aware of, I thought that was more a saltwater environment thing. The mississippi isn't clear enough to do anything by sight if your over 12" deep. At this time I'am thinking of going with Interlux Ultra it's for heavy fouling areas. The problem is that 1 year is about as long as new bottom paint has lasted before I start noticing a significant decline in performance - loss of wot speed, rpm and getting on step. I don't often run over 1200 to 1300 rpm while cruising but I do an occasional wot run to check rpm for feedback on engine tune and hull condition. The 2nd year on paint I'll be down 5 mph and and 200 - 250 rpm at wot. When I was on a inland lake 3+ years was the norm but the lake was much cleaner, water was clearer. I would like to find a paint that would perform that well on the Mississippi River.

River Cruiser said:

At this time I'am thinking of going with Interlux Ultra it's for heavy fouling areas.

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There is no better perfoming, longer lasting anti fouling paint than Pettit Trinidad, IMHO. While both are hard paints, Interlux Ultra pales in comparison.

fstbttms said:

There is no better perfoming, longer lasting anti fouling paint than Pettit Trinidad, IMHO. While both are hard paints, Interlux Ultra pales in comparison.

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Thank you I'am wanting to find something that'll keep the bottom clean longer than 1 season. I use my boat normally from mid March to mid December and usually have it out at least once a week. So I don't believe lack of use is the problem. I just read the literature on Trinidad and will have to choose between them, Trinidad is the front runner at this point.

Know however, that most hard paints (including Trinidad) cannot withstand prolonged periods exposed to air. FYI in case you haul for the winter.

fstbttms said:

Know however, that most hard paints (including Trinidad) cannot withstand prolonged periods exposed to air. FYI in case you haul for the winter.

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It stays in year round I typically haul every 2 years for anodes and paint. If I can get 3 or 4 years between new bottom paint I would be very happy.

Just applied Coppercoat from Coppercoat USA. We will see how it does.

READY2GO said:

Just applied Coppercoat from Coppercoat USA. We will see how it does.

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Just read their website sounds like a very good product. Keep us updated on its performance.

River Cruiser said:

...sounds like a very good product.

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Yeah, I wouldn't bet the farm on that being the case.

fstbttms said:

Yeah, I wouldn't bet the farm on that being the case.

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Just need clarification are we all talking fresh water here?

eyschulman said:

Just need clarification are we all talking fresh water here?

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No. San Francisco Bay. But that's not the point. The point is that in my experience, it is not a very good product, the company's web site claims notwithstanding.

fstbttms said:

No. San Francisco Bay. But that's not the point. The point is that in my experience, it is not a very good product, the company's web site claims notwithstanding.

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Thank you for your input which is as always informative and based on experience. My boat however lives most of its life in fresh water and what I and the OP are looking for is what will work for us. Are there any fresh water divers out there?

That's been my experience as well

fstbttms said:

No. San Francisco Bay. But that's not the point. The point is that in my experience, it is not a very good product, the company's web site claims notwithstanding.

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Not very effective.

Really

fstbttms said:

There is no better perfoming, longer lasting anti fouling paint than Pettit Trinidad, IMHO. While both are hard paints, Interlux Ultra pales in comparison.

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I gotten 4 years out of Interlux Ultra with Bilox in the SF bay /area. I've never tried Trinidad, I'm using Procoat epoxy currently and not impressed. In the summer warm fresh water in the Delta i get green slime build up. I had the sales rep from Svensens out to check it out. He said it's the clear warm water and sunlight. It wipes off but I never had to wipe down Interlux. A run into Salt water cleans it right off, but still I'm looking at it all summer. Now that the water has cooled down the problem is much less. What kind of life are you getting with Trinidad.

We get 3+ years with Trinidad, cleaned every other month. I can tell an Ultra bottom within 6-9 months of splashing here in the Bay. It just doesn't perform as well as Trinidad. But again, freshwater vs. saltwater is apples and oranges.

fstbttms said:

No. San Francisco Bay. But that's not the point. The point is that in my experience, it is not a very good product, the company's web site claims notwithstanding.

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Are you talking about Coppercoat, or Copperpoxy? Common mistake, BIG difference. Copperpoxy, which was made with copper flakes (most likely cuprous oxide) has been around for a few decades in this country, and evidently it requires sanding or some form of abrasion every season to "reactivate". I've spoken with people who used that product, both as boat owners and as yards/applicators. It comes nowhere near Coppercoat in performance. I'm not even sure you can get it any more. And Coppercoat has only been in the US for about 5 years, so anything applied before that would be the other stuff.

We hauled out (for repairs after being hit by another boater) a year and a half after applying Coppercoat, and there was not a single barnacle or anything attached to the hull. The yard guy said the thin layer of slime washed off "like butter". We confidently expect at least 10-15 years, and probably more. They are pulling boats now in Europe and other parts of the world that had Coppercoat applied in the mid-'90s, and they typically get washed down and put back in the water. If there is any touch up work required, it's usually just at the waterline. I'll take that after 20 years of not having to do a bottom job!

If in fact the boat in your photo does have Coppercoat, I would hazard a guess that it was not applied correctly. We made a video of the application process on our boat, and it has to be applied by following the directions to a "T" or it will not perform as intended.

Moonfish said:

Are you talking about Coppercoat, or Copperpoxy? Common mistake, BIG difference. Copperpoxy, which was made with copper flakes (most likely cuprous oxide) has been around for a few decades in this country, and evidently it requires sanding or some form of abrasion every season to "reactivate".

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I've been in the hull cleaning business for over twenty years and have performed 20,000 in-water hull cleanings, so when I post a picture and tell you that its Coppercoat, you can take that to the bank.

Seems that most positive anecdotes about Coppercoat and other copper-loaded epoxies, come from people who do their boating in regions of low fouling, like the PNW. Once you get down here where fouling is an honest-to-God concern, the stories aren't quite so rosy.

BTW- I hate to break the news to you, but Coppercoat requires regular haulouts for sanding, just like Copperpoxy did.

Coppercoat is very popular in our marina (on the Missouri River) with the rich owners of big sailboats. It's kind of overkill in my opinion because our fresh water is so clean and our seasons so short that zincs last for five or more years for example. We do get a slime on the hulls that might be a quarter inch thick by the end of a six month season so most boats get powerwashed at haulout, but a garden hose will wash off the bottoms of the Coppercoat boats. And it sure looks pretty.

fstbttms said:

BTW- I hate to break the news to you, but Coppercoat requires regular haulouts for sanding, just like Copperpoxy did.

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That is categorically incorrect. If applied correctly, Coppercoat in fact does not require regular haulouts for sanding.

However, as it can be a DIY project, if applied INCORRECTLY, well that could be an issue. Inasmuch, I could use a two-part paint incorrectly and then say it doesn't work very well...

But it's easy to get the two products confused. The yard manager where we had Coppercoat applied initially tried to warn me away from it. He said he applied Coppercoat to a friend's Cape George sailboat 20 years ago in Port Townsend, and it required "seasonal" scuffing/sanding. I said I thought that was pretty much impossible, as Coppercoat has only been available in this country for about 5 years and does not need regular sanding. But he was positive (though he did not use a bank reference ). He ended up calling his friend who still has the boat, and discovered that it was actually Copperpoxy that he worked with all those years ago. However, interestingly enough, the Copperpoxy was still on the boat...

Anyway, I'll get a hold of the Coppercoat USA folks in FL and see if they have any customers in the SF Bay area and what their actual experiences are.

Moonfish said:

That is categorically incorrect. If applied correctly, Coppercoat in fact does not require regular haulouts for sanding.

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Umm... right.

Eventually, usually after several years, the surface may benefit from being lightly abraded with a fine grade of "wet and dry" paper or a burnishing pad to expose fresh copper.

Frequently asked questions about Coppercoat anti-fouling epoxy. Why is Coppercoat better than standard marine bottom paint? And much more!

fstbttms said:

Umm... right.

Eventually, usually after several years, the surface may benefit from being lightly abraded with a fine grade of "wet and dry" paper or a burnishing pad to expose fresh copper.

Frequently asked questions about Coppercoat anti-fouling epoxy. Why is Coppercoat better than standard marine bottom paint? And much more!

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Ok, so it's how you word things... "Eventually, usually after several years" - and they are being conservative in their wording - "the surface MAY benefit from being lightly abraded" does not fit your statement of "Coppercoat requires regular haulouts for sanding". And, I will guess that most people equate "regular haulouts" with needing to do so every couple of years, if not annually.

I'll be quite satisfied if five, six, seven or more years from now my hull "may benefit" from being "lightly abraded" with a burnishing pad. It very well may not need it. No matter how you word it, that is better than needing another full bottom job or two in the same time period.

Yeah, I hate to be proven wrong too. :lol:

It will be interesting to me to see how Coppercoat does here in the keys. Boot Key Harbor is the worst fouling area I have ever seen. We had a black hard anti-foul on the hull before. I don't know what it was as it was on there when we bought the boat in 2012. We had to have the bottom cleaned every month or it would get away from you. After just 30 days we would have a 1" carpet on the bottom with lots of hard growth as well. We have only been back in the water for 16 days but I wanted to check the bow thruster prop so I jumped in the water yesterday to check it out. The Coppercoat had zero on it. My prop and shaft which I had used a hard anti-foul on had slime on them, but wiped off easily. The bow thruster prop (no anti-foul, just plastic prop) had lots of hard growth on it already. Had to scrape it to clean it. The bolts that hold the zinc on the transom of the boat had hard growth as well.

It amazes me that there are only two bolts and the thruster prop that are not protected and the stuff finds them to grow on.

I have been trying to think of how to protect the thruster prop. Since it is hard glossy plastic I don't know if anything will stick to it. I don't know why they don't make them out of copper. As expensive as they are I think they could. I wondered if I took two plastic black balls and squeezed one inside each end of the tunnel while we are stopped here till April if that would stop the growth. No light and no exchange of water.

Any ideas?

READY2GO said:

It will be interesting to me to see how Coppercoat does here in the keys. Boot Key Harbor is the worst fouling area I have ever seen.

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Jim at Coppercoat USA said they have a trawler customer not too far from you in Miami that applied Coppercoat 6 years ago and has not had to do any sanding since the original application.

Interesting predicament with the plastic thruster prop, though. Sounds like your idea of keeping the critters out (with something to block the opening) is the only way to go... Good luck!

It's interesting how our memory works. I had forgotten how often I or a diver cleaned the bottom on my 4788. It does seem like every 6 months at least down in the Estuary I needed zinks and the bottom scrubbed. When I began keeping my boat in the Delta I was spending time in fresh and salt water and the transition kept the bottom in pretty good shape. It may help that there is a lot of current where I keep my boat now. The fresh water seems to make bottom paint last a couple of years longer.

Scary said:

It does seem like every 6 months at least down in the Estuary I needed zinks and the bottom scrubbed.

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Oh, I guarantee you needed to have your bottom cleaned more often than every 6 months on the Estuary. Maybe you weren't aware of it, but your diver was.

FYI- your anti fouling paint seems to last longer because the fouling conditions in the delta are so much less than they were in the Bay.

This is in the big Miss. Saltwater guys need not respond. Cheapest possible ebay bottom paint and about 25 % more copper (cuprous oxide, from any fireworks builder) will last a few years. Epoxy and a generous amount of cuprous oxide is good for high speed craft. It aint rocket science. My bottom lasts about 5 years and can go 7.