Do We Need Bottom Paint?

[Baker]

If the boat keeps moving, nothing will grow on it. If it sits for more than a week, you will have growth. SO the question is, how much will you be using the boat while it is in the water???

 

[DarrenCharles]

If the boat keeps moving, nothing will grow on it. If it sits for more than a week, you will have growth. SO the question is, how much will you be using the boat while it is in the water???

I suspect we will be cruising 4 days out of every 8 in the water. We will be trailering occasionally as well.

 

[fstbttms]

Plenty of people have done what he plans to do and have not regretted it. Not sure how much time you have spent on the East Coast, I have enough to know 2 weeks in a high growth area and you see a bit, in a low growth area...it mostly wipes off.

Stand by while I query some actual Florida hull divers for their professional opinions. :lol:

 

[fstbttms]

Plenty of people have done what he plans to do and have not regretted it. Not sure how much time you have spent on the East Coast, I have enough to know 2 weeks in a high growth area and you see a bit, in a low growth area...it mostly wipes off. I leave my RHIB in for a week or two at a whack and with running it, it barely has slime on it.

And he can take that to the bank.

Response #1:

 

[fstbttms]

Response #2. Those are barnacles, BTW:

 

[fstbttms]

Response #3:

 

[fstbttms]

Response #4:

 

[psneeld]

Like I said, if you judge a whole state , all conditions, and have exactly the same opinion....just doesn't sound right to me. Even just the "Sarasota area" statement seems too broad...it may be true, but often marinas within miles of each other can be drastically different.

Virtually nothing in life is that black and white.

Plus slight growth as I pointed out being wiped in the water as the zoP mentioned and pressure washed upon removal may be enough.

To paint when he doesn't want to and not even try to me shows how Americans can be so easily swayed instead of reasoning though decisions.

OP...get some more opinions....get emails from dry lift marinas all over Florida who see boat bottoms all the time instead of a just one business model view.

 

[mvweebles]

OP states the boat will be in the water for about 2 weeks at a time, then moved to a new location.

If I were him, I would NOT apply bottom paint, but plan on stopping at a DIY car wash between each stop and pressure wash the bottom.

In the end, once bottom paint is applied, you're pretty well committed. Very few people have actual experience using a boat in Florida similar to the OPs use case. They either have a boat in the water for a few hours (boat lift or trailer), or full time and bottom paint. I would try it out without bottom paint and see how it goes.

Good luck and have a great trip. Hope this is the biggest conundrum you face!

Peter

 

[fstbttms]

Well, I have plenty more responses that I could post, but I think the point has been made. The OP can listen to professionals who earn their livings cleaning boat bottoms, or he can follow the advice of laymen who have never cleaned a boat bottom in their lives. It's his choice and his dime.

 

[psneeld]

Well, I have plenty more responses that I could post, but I think the point has been made. The OP can listen to professionals who earn their livings cleaning boat bottoms, or he can follow the advice of laymen who have never cleaned a boat bottom in their lives. It's his choice and his dime.

You have no knowledge of my qualifications and seeing the condition of a boat bottom under water or in a travel lift is not rocket science. I have never had a boat professionally cleaned as I do it myself and have done others as a courtesy. And I have had boats or worked on boats for 55 years in Jersey to Florida.


Even had to do the bottom paint evaluations while a USCG Naval Engineering Supervisor back in the late 80s when the USCG was experimenting with trying different non toxic paints. So I have more than a squirters experience.




You may have scraped, but I have power washed....not sure how one is superior to the other.


As you have read, others agree that trying it without paint for 2 weeks at a time with decent cleaning in and out of the water won't be the end of the world if the first time or two he picks up some slight fouling.



And again...I would bet anyone with a decent amount of experience knows fouling is very dependent on several factors...you don't agree????


I will leave it a that.

 

[fstbttms]

And again...I would bet anyone with a decent amount of experience knows fouling is very dependent on several factors...you don't agree????

Of course I agree. But we're talking about what is probably the highest fouling area in the continental United States and we have the opinions of multiple hull divers who work in the very location in that high fouling area in which the OP is located.

You (and others) can justify it all you want. And it certainly isn't going to be the end of the world if the OP does decide to use his boat in Florida without anti fouling paint. I'm just here to tell him that he'll wish he hadn't, that's all. He has a beautiful pristine gel coat bottom that will be neither beautiful or pristine if he allows shelled animal growth to attach, which it certainly will.

 

[Barking Sands]

Hey OP, why dont you just stick with your original plan and do your trip. Report back here with your findings since there is no consensus. You will then be the expert informing us in real time.

IMO your proposal is only a slight gamble. And if you lose your losses will only be mild, needing to address whatever minor issues that would be required.

On the flip side...if you bottom paint for this one trip, and then go back to trailering in fresh water for many years...you will kick yourself for putting that paint on.

There are many large trailerable boats here in Florida (usually Sea Ray types) that spent some time in the water and were bottom painted...only to be sold to someone who put it back on the trailer. I actually hear MUCH MUCH more complaining about that DOGGONE EYESORE BOTTOM PAINT from the new owner with their boat on the trailer cussing the previous owner than I do the other way around...lol.

A boat that spends most of its time on a trailer with poorly maintained bottom paint reduces resale. If you put bottom paint on and it spends the remaining time on a trailer you will be kicking yourself..lol. You will have to put it on...and then you will either have to reapply or pay to have it removed.

In my view- the most important factor is what you intend to do with this boat in the coming years. 95% trailered? 50/50? But to me the general consensus here in Florida is to never bottom paint anything unless it really lives in the water. There are tens of thousand of boats here in Florida that live on trailers that then spend a week to 10 days cruising Florida and Bahamas. There are tens of thousand of boats that live on a trailer only to be launched and sit behind someone's house tied to a dock and operated for a week or two at a time. Again...I hear many more stories about the regret of doing bottom paint on a predominately trailered boat than the inverse.

My vote is to go for it and then report back.

 

[jimL]

I don't know if this was covered in earlier posts, but check your anodes. The fresh water of the Hudson River North is much different from SALT WATER in FL - which will require zincs.

Jim L - Albany, NY

 

[Comodave]

I don't know if this was covered in earlier posts, but check your anodes. The fresh water of the Hudson River North is much different from SALT WATER in FL - which will require zincs.

Jim L - Albany, NY

Actually zinc isn’t required for salt water. Aluminum will work in salt water or fresh water. Magnesium is only good in fresh water and zinc should not be used in fresh water.

 

[Mako]

Florida isn't so bad.

Here on the Banana River I could feel little baby barnacles on my sailboat after 3 days. At least it's not after 2 days

 

[High Wire]

My friend here in Englewood, FL stores his center console on a lift in a canal about 3 miles from the gulf. He fishes every fishable day possible. One day I was looking at his boat and noticed his transom had large, scattered barnacles. I guess they think the daily lift is a lengthy low tide!

 

[fstbttms]

My friend here in Englewood, FL stores his center console on a lift in a canal about 3 miles from the gulf. He fishes every fishable day possible. One day I was looking at his boat and noticed his transom had large, scattered barnacles.

 

[Grandbanksgreg64]

Paint it my friend.... worth the money.

 

[MYTraveler]

FWIW, IME, the colder the water the slower stuff grows. Even in the PNW, at least during the summer, my RIB gets enough growth after just 4-5 days to make cleaning a chore. I won't leave it in warmer water for even 3 days, although once I left it for 7 days and little white coral tube worms grew everywhere. I can't imagine leaving a boat in Florida waters for two weeks straight.

 

[bligh]

Do we need bottom paint? Can we just wax the bottom? After years of reading this forum and looking for the perfect trade-off cruising boat, my wife and I recently purchased a 2011 Ranger Tug R25. It appears to be a good boat - one owner who has aged out, all fresh water usage, 150 hours. It has never had bottom paint. Do we need it?

It will be on a trailer in our climate controlled large garage when it is not in the water, which will be most of the time. It will be used almost exclusively in fresh water in New York State - Canals, Hudson River, Lake George, etc. However, my wife and I plan to haul it to Florida this Covid winter and travel around in salt water for approximately 2 months. I estimate it will be in the water an average of 2 weeks at a time, then trailer to a new location. We would clean the bottom when we trailer from site to site. I dive so I could wash the bottom in the water weekly if that helps.

We welcome your comments.

In this photo, I have pressure washed the bottom. I could get it cleaner if I applied some elbow grease and a mildly abrasive scrubby pad as shown in the first couple of feet of the bow.

Yes, paint would be a wise investment. I cant imagine the horror of a boat in Florida for a week without bottom paint.

 

[DaveGibson]

If you're willing to dive every week to scrub the bottom, no bottom paint needed. But if you're not, paint it. What will it hurt? Not a thing, but to save you work.

 

[83GB]

In addition to my trawler with bottom paint, I have an 18 foot center console (on a trailer) without bottom paint.. When we launch the center console in Pensacola FL area, we leave it in the salt water at our pier... Over the years, I have learned I can only keep it in the water for 7 days or less.... even that short amount of time it gets slime on it. At 10 days in the water, the bare fiberglass bottom starts to feel like 150 grit sand paper... hard growth starting to form... Once the boat is back on the trailer, I use SNOBOWL toilet cleaner and it takes off the hard growth and the stain...

 

[backinblue]

It's counter-intuitive, but waxing the bottom will add drag.

 

[Capt Ray]

My initial thought was, "Yes, of course." But then I re-read your entire post. IF it is only going in for 2 weeks at a time, and you can power wash every 2 weeks when it is out of the water I'd keep the virgin bottom as it is with wax as you've described. Before moving to Long Island NY with our previous boat a 27 ft express cruiser on the Sebago Lake system in Maine, we would put it in the ocean for 2 weeks every year for a cruising vacation up and down the Maine coast... no bottom paint. Of course that nice white bottom got paint once we moved to full time ocean boating.
Congratulations on the nice ride!

 

[Sofa King Fishy]

Bottom paint

Bottom paint is designed to flake off- eventually. So, when barnacles latch on & multiply, they eventually fall off. This is true with Ablative paint- that’s what one should apply to a fast moving vessel- I.e.: Power boat. Sailboats move slowly, and the effect is not ideal with ablative paint, so they tend to use harder enamel-like paint like Petit Trinidad. The harder surface makes it difficult for barnacles to adhere deeply. So, yes, we need bottom paint.

 

[fstbttms]

Bottom paint is designed to flake off- eventually. So, when barnacles latch on & multiply, they eventually fall off.

100% not true.

 

[Sofa King Fishy]

100% not true.

My apologies- assuming the vessel actually moves once in a while. Touché.

 

[fstbttms]

My apologies- assuming the vessel actually moves once in a while. Touché.

No, you miss the point(s):

1.- Anti fouling paint does not "flake" off, not even ablative paints. If it does, it is because the coating has failed.

2.- Shelled animals (barnacles, oysters, coral worms, mussels or whatever) once attached, do not simply fall off. Ever. Once attached they are there essentially forever, until physically removed by mechanical or other means.

 

[warren]

Wow a lot of opinions here!
One thing I have found out over the years is that barnacles and the like stick very hard to plain gelcoat but any bottom paint will allow growth to be removed much more easily. For dry use a hard paint even if its poison dies when out of the water will allow easier growth removal, and you won’t get the ablivative rubbing off on you when you launch and recover the boat.
Alternatively We had one guy at our local lake never use antifoul on his hull from new he kept it looking like Brand new by using the acidic hull cleaner at the end of every season, about 1/4 the cost of antifoul. Other boats in the same lake marine without antifoul would get very hard grime and slime stuck to hulls forever., they looked awful.
Hopefully some different ideal , good luck!