Best performing bottom paint in fresh water

After reading the replies I think one reason the hull gets as dirty as it does is the fact I've used ablative paint even though I take the boat out 2 to 3 times a week. A 2nd possibility is how well protected the marina is, no current and the water temp runs about 4 degrees warmer than out in the river. So the boat sits in warm, calm water and even the use it gets isn't enough for the ablative paint to work as advertised. I talked with the marina today and the hull has been pressure washed and looks good, no blisters or other problems. They are going to blast off all the paint to the gelcoat do 4 coats of the interprotect 2000 barrier and then what ever bottom paint I choose. The blasting will happen Monday then it'll be blocked up in the shop and the other projects done and all the coating and painting will happen when it's warm enough in the spring before its launched. At this time I'am leaning towards Trinidad or Ultra and will make the final decision after I know both are compatible with the barrier coat.

kulas44 said:

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.

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Don't forget to add a couple pounds of ground cayenne pepper to the paint as well.

River Cruiser said:

I talked with the marina today and the hull has been pressure washed and looks good, no blisters or other problems. They are going to blast off all the paint to the gelcoat do 4 coats of the interprotect 2000 barrier and then what ever bottom paint I choose. The blasting will happen Monday then it'll be blocked up in the shop and the other projects done and all the coating and painting will happen when it's warm enough in the spring before its launched. At this time I'am leaning towards Trinidad or Ultra and will make the final decision after I know both are compatible with the barrier coat.

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Just a heads up to make sure the yard/marina carefully follows your instructions for applying bottom paint over the Interprotect 2000. I had a problem with bottom paint flaking off because I let the barrier coat completely cure (slick and hard) over the winter before applying bottom paint. The Interlux tech guys subsequently advised that I should sand off the flaking bottom paint (thereby also roughening the epoxy), apply a single tack coat of fresh 2000, and then apply the bottom paint while the epoxy was "thumb print" tacky. That will give a chemical as well as mechanical bond for the bottom paint. I elected to use a hard red Interlux bottom paint for the first coat, followed by two coats of Interlux black ablative. Their tech guys said it would work fine as long as I also followed the over coat times for the bottom paints (basically overnight) Make sure the yard knows this and plans accordingly. They should not apply the last coat of epoxy and quit for the day. Yes, the epoxy stays "open" for a longer period, but if you want the best job, again, apply the bottom paint when it's tacky. Our 44 foot boat had to be done in four sections....epoxy/red bottom paint...epoxy/red bottom paint, etc...because the epoxy very quickly cured beyond the thumb print stage. No way could one person realistically keep up...and it was a challenge for two of us ...one applying the paint and one alternately prepping batches of epoxy, then bottom paint. Two sets of paint trays/applicators, etc.

I chose ablative for the last two coats because the boat is on the Great Lakes and gets hauled every winter. The ablative will reactivate when splashed, where none of the hard paints (that I know of) will work after being hauled for an extended period....maybe the Coppercoat...


The Interlux ablative has been on the boat since 2008 and with the exception of the water line, I still have not seen the red guide coat emerging. I touch up the water line area every two years as it gets a lot of brushing to remove the scum line. That said, the boat has not seen a lot of hours underway in recent years. Except for the water line, there is virtually zero growth on the bottom...Northwest coast of Michigan, four months of each year in the water. Each Fall I carefully power wash the bottom myself as I don't trust the kids in the yard not to blow off the ablative paint.

rwidman said:

Don't forget to add a couple pounds of ground cayenne pepper to the paint as well.

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Thanks Skidgear, nothing is going to be applied to the hull till spring when the weather warms up enough, the blasting and sanding is being done now. We went over the required ambient temps and times between coats, the marina does a lot of bottom paint and has employees experienced in doing it right. I've heard of adding pepper to bottom paint, I think I'll add that to the list, it sure can't hurt.

River Cruiser said:

I've heard of adding pepper to bottom paint, I think I'll add that to the list, it sure can't hurt.

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rwidman was being sarcastic. Adding pepper to paint is a useless, ridiculous wive's tale that is perpetuated by boaters that don't know jack about anti fouling paint.

Back to the OP...... In fresh water you can't beat Interlux VC17, 4-5 years easy then give it a light scrub with a 3M scrubbie, put on another coat. It goes on like water and I've done a 40' boat in a morning. A big bonus is that the paint is so thin you get no heavy build up even after multiple coats.

fstbttms said:

rwidman was being sarcastic. Adding pepper to paint is a useless, ridiculous wive's tale that is perpetuated by boaters that don't know jack about anti fouling paint.

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That's why there was a wink smiley on my post. There's no "sarcastic" smiley.

I'm planning on writing a book - "101 Stupid Boating Tricks" and that one will be in it.

And I thought,damn why hadn't i heard of this trick.

fstbttms said:

rwidman was being sarcastic. Adding pepper to paint is a useless, ridiculous wive's tale that is perpetuated by boaters that don't know jack about anti fouling paint.

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There went any boat knowledge points for this month.

We keep our boat in the Chesapeake; some salt water, some brackish water, & even some freshwater areas. In 2013, I applied Pettit's Hydrocoat, a water based AF paint. No paint was applied at the beginning of the 2014 season. Boat was hauled last week; some slime & mud, but no hard growth. Pettit advertises it as a multi-season paint; my conversation w/tech folks led me to think at least 2 seasons, perhaps more, might be possible. So far, I like it.

I was ready to go with the Pettit Trinidad SR after fstbttms recommendation and my further research it appeared to be the better of the 2 paints for the performance I wanted. Then I talked with both companies tech support, after explaining where the boat is and what improvement I was looking for over what has been used neither one claimed their paint was better than the other. They both said that their paints were very similar in performance, the Interlux tech pointed out that because it was getting the interprotect 2000 barrier coat that if any problems arose during the warranty period there would be no question that it would be covered. If it had the Trinidad then there's the possibility that Interlux and Pettit would point fingers back and forth at who's product is at fault. He also told me that Ultra has less cooper it is more efficient in how it is released and having less copper is why it's cheaper than Trinidad. This is the point that I started to re-think my decision to go with Trinidad, the warranty info was the deciding factor. Talked with the marina yesterday and decided to go with Ultra, a red base coat and then a black 2nd coat and a 3rd coat in high wear areas, now just waiting for warm weather.

FYI- I find that there is marked and very noticeable difference in performance between Ultra and Trinidad. YMMV.

River Cruiser...You are wise to keep the barrier and top coats of the same mfg. I stripped my bottom and replaced the barrier and top coats last spring. Not a cheap project. Both supplied by the same company. Well guess what we found in the fall when we hauled the boat. Major top coat failure. Needless to say there was no fingers being pointed. Just a simple statement. We'll stand behind our product. It's being taken care of, no further questions.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Trawler

fstbttms said:

FYI- I find that there is marked and very noticeable difference in performance between Ultra and Trinidad. YMMV.

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While you are the professional and I am just a consumer....I get a SOLID 5 years out of Ultra Bio!!! If there is a "marked and very noticeable difference in performance" in the Trinidad, I'd be curious to see what I would get!!!!....10 years????? Sorry brutha, I am absolutely sold on Ultra!!!! 5 years is hard to beat. I am almost two years into the current paint. I don't expect to paint it for at least another two years.....

We use Trinidad Petit SR 60 last 3-4 years and that is in warm salt water of South Georgia and Florida. Lasted 6 years on our sailboat but we were very gentle with the monthly bottom cleaning. See @ TheOffice: @ TheOffice: Bottom's Up or at least painted All done!

Baker said:

While you are the professional and I am just a consumer....I get a SOLID 5 years out of Ultra Bio!!!

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I have never seen any paint provide good anti fouling performance for anything approaching 5 years. But that's here and you're there. Again, I guess YMMV.

I agree that the first time over an epoxy barrier coat that you stay in manufacturer...just for "bonding" till the product is fully cured.

After the first year...you can always top off with whatever is quoted as compatable.

My personal experience has shown bottom paint results to wildly vary depending on water conditions, boat use and paint application.

Hard to beat soft paint full of copper for slow boats that don't move much....beyond that it can vary a lot.

While I prefer ablatives and Interlude after a bad experience with Petit... Trinidad seems to have the best rep of any paint I know....but only for the boats that can really use it.

Sea Hawk paint was the last bottom job that impressed me on a boat that sat a lot. Forget which particular mix though.

I think the fouling problem where I'am at on the mississippi can be blamed on agricultural runoff, plenty of nutrients in the warm water and very calm conditions in the harbor.

I'm through w high performance bottom paints. Put on Interlux Micron Extra and it lasted for 3 years. Great but ... they claimed it as an "ablative" coating and it definitely wasn't. Had to scrape it all off and I'm NOT inclined to do that again. I use a very inexpensive bottom coat now called "Sea Mate" by Petitt. Less than $100 a gallon. Ninety five percent of the boats near the place where we lived in SE Alaska used this coating .... and just put more on every year or so.

Had just the opposite experience...Petitt that didn't ablate....thus my pist about almost anything applied good may work..or not......roll the dice...

Have always had good experience with fiberglass bottomkote, hard paint. red actually works best in some areas, but black has always performed well. We used red on the bottom and black on visible portions one year. Now has an additive for soft growth which is the biggest problem in the lakes. Some folks add red pepper to deter zebra mussels, but may be a urban legend.

boatpoker said:

Back to the OP...... In fresh water you can't beat Interlux VC17, 4-5 years easy then give it a light scrub with a 3M scrubbie, put on another coat. It goes on like water and I've done a 40' boat in a morning. A big bonus is that the paint is so thin you get no heavy build up even after multiple coats.

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I second this, been using VC-17 over VC Tar for 25 years Re-coat every other year.