Best antifouling paint for PNW?

We need to haul, repaint and zinc our GB42 this spring. We're moored in brackish water and have to abide by Canadian environmental regulations. Any recommendations?...and what kind of quantity am I looking at?
Thanks - Boyd

I've had great results with Hempel Olympic 86900. Comes in 5 liter cans which are very heavy.

I think you can get 76600 in Canada now as well.

Hempel doesn't advertise much in the yacht market, but they are big players in the commercial market. I think Mr. Hempel invented antifouling paint 100 years ago.

I have friends that own a active yard in Seattle and I usually ask them. The point I want to make is that they do not always come up with the same answer. They tell me that some paints do better at different times and that formulas change. I would ask the people at a few active yards in your area they get a lot of feed back.

Boatyards are the last people to ask which anti fouling paint works best in a particular area. They paint a boat and then don't see it again for two or three years. How the hell do they know how well the paint performed in the interim?

If you want to know which anti fouling products are really doing the job in your neck of the woods, ask the guys who see the paints doing what they do every day, in real world conditions. Ask the local hull cleaners.

Yes I would think local hull cleaners would know. In our area hull cleaning has been pretty much outlawed as in many other areas. If they can still clean hard paints then they only see part of the picture since trawlers and motor boats often use ablatives.The yard people I deal with evaluate the hull and paint job when they haul out and talk to me about how well my paint job did over the period and will make suggestions. If your yard is not doing that then to me its a little less than full good service. I use CSR in Seattle and most serious race boats in the area also use that yard. Serious sail racing people put a lot of emphasis on bottom finish so looking to where they go for work and advise is a clue.

eyschulman said:

Yes I would think local hull cleaners would know. In our area hull cleaning has been pretty much outlawed as in many other areas.

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It has not been outlawed in your area. Cleaning of ablatives has been restricted in Washington, but that is hardly the same thing.

The yard's expertise lies in selling, and applying, anti fouling paint. It does not lie in maintaining those paints once the boat has left the yard. If you trust your yard's opinion on the subject, that's great. But if I had a dollar for every time I heard an owner repeat some bullsh*t about anti fouling paint they got from a yard, maybe I wouldn't be cleaning boat bottoms for a living any more.

I see now I wrote that last sentence poorly. What I meant was; I have often heard boat owners repeat the bad information they received from boatyards about bottom paint.

I don't know if it is available in CA, but we used Trinidad SR for 14 years in the PNW. We spent time on the Frasier River and it worked well there. It's a hard paint so you do have a build up to deal with.

Trinidad SR

fstbttms said:

.......................... If you want to know which anti fouling products are really doing the job in your neck of the woods, ask the guys who see the paints doing what they do every day, in real world conditions. Ask the local hull cleaners.

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Yep.

Also, the major paint manufacturers have selection guides on their websites. Use these, then ask divers and boat owners in the area where you will be keeping your boat.

FSTBTTMS I totally agree that regular diving on boats would give the best picture. It used to be common to see a diver cleaning a bottom in Seattle now if it is happening it must be at night. As you say hard bottoms by law can still be cleaned but here there are marinas and clubs such as my club SYC where any cleaning is forbidden. I should also point out that if boat yards are not reliable why are divers? I would think it a tempting conflict of interest between a diver who wants regular work and an owner who would rather not pay for diving. If the diver tells owner his vessel is clean and does not need work for six months he loses business. Personally I trust my diver and boat yard that's why I use them. Maybe the best approach is to check out multiple sources and compare the information.

eyschulman said:

...if boat yards are not reliable why are divers?

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The yard is simply coming from a place of ignorance. They have zero experience with in-water hull cleaning and the day-to-day performance of a given anti fouling paint. The yard may know what paint is popular (or what they make the most profit on), but to know whether or not that paint is suitable for the conditions it is being used in requires much more frequent inspection than a haulout every few years. A good hull cleaner knows that by recommending a quality anti fouling paint that works well in his service area, he will keep his customer happy and make his job easier. The boat still needs to be cleaned, regardless of what product is used, but a high quality paint that works well will stay cleaner between service events, therefore can be cleaned more gently and therefore will last longer, requiring less frequent haulouts for repainting.

The only people who lose in that scenario are the boatyards.

I used Interlux Micron ll or plus or something like that.

Expensive and was a really good antifoulant but like Larry says ... Had to "deal w it". That meant scrape off for re-coat. Never again. So I'm following this thread for a substitute.

Have been using Petit Sea Mate recently as all the fishermen do up north but I suspect it's only good for one season.

Fstbttms; too bad your not in Seattle. It sounds like you are giving your customers particularly good service. So far I have never had a diver ask about what bottom paint I use other than hard or soft and maybe not even ,or make any recommendations. Since I don't get to converse with divers too often maybe I can learn something here. Can a diver tell what brand and type of bottom paint is on a boat or does that information have to come from the owner or if he or she does not know the boat yard records?

eyschulman said:

Can a diver tell what brand and type of bottom paint is on a boat or does that information have to come from the owner or if he or she does not know the boat yard records?

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The answer is- sometimes. The differences between ablative and hard paint are pretty apparent. Sometimes one can tell a paint simply by the color. Certain products (Coppercoat or Baltoplate, for instance) have unique textures that set them apart. All of that is dependant on the diver's experience. Me, I like to know what I'm dealing with before I clean it, so I always ask upon first contact with the customer. And yes, I have called boatyards to ask when the customer is unsure.

Hi Boyd
I have been using Pettit Horizons here in Sidney BC and we are very happy with the 3 years it gives us. I guess using an ablative paint is a holdover from my sailboat days since they both vessels obtain similar speeds. The previous owner of our boat was from Burrard Yacht Club in Vancouver and he used Pettit Trinidad also with good results.

Thanks Mike but I just checked Steveston Marine for Pettit Horizons...$255. a gallon YIKES!

Hi Boyd
Better find a new supplier......, thats way more that what I paid last year....

rochepoint said:

Hi Boyd
Better find a new supplier......, thats way more that what I paid last year....

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The Internet is your friend here unless whoever is doing the painting insists on supplying the material.

I paid a fixed price the last time I had my boat's bottom painted. The paint was Pettit Trinidad SR77 (something like that). The guy told me it was $400 per gallon. I know better than that but the fixed price was a good one so I didn't argue.

After scraping 13 coats of hard epoxy antifouling paint the POs applied, I'll never subject myself or the next owner to that again.

Pettit Hydrocoat ablative I applied in 2006 has worked very well for me. Eight 2.5-3 month summers in the water in SE Alaska so far, each followed by a power washing, and it's still pretty good, but begining to wear thin here and there along the sides. May do another coat or two this year.

And it's water-based! Not so nasty to apply or clean up.

Northern Spy said:

After scraping 13 coats of hard epoxy antifouling paint the POs applied, I'll never subject myself or the next owner to that again.

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I understand your point but depending on the climate and use of the boat hard paint might be the only type that will be effective.

Don't know if it's available over there but Jotun Sea Guardian is good for brackish water. Mate has used it for 5yrs and I plan on putting it on AXE.


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Phil Fill said:

.......... I have a diver twice a year clean the heavy growth, prop/shaft/rudder/through hulls/heavy growth areas and check the zincs. .....

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In my area we have to have the hulls cleaned every three weeks or so in the summer, perhaps every two months in the winter.

BTW: I wouldn't do what my diver does for what I pay him. That water is pretty nasty and full of critters.

I don't want to turn a thread about bottom paint into a discussion of hull cleaning, but a number of posters so far have discussed hull scraping/pressure-washing, so here goes: My hull received two coats of bottom paint (brand unknown, but done at a very reputable yard) in 2012. The paint is black, if that helps? The boat is in Prince William Sound, in Southcentral Alaska.

As a diver, in 2013 I took a deck brush down to remove some of the green scum that accumulated over the winter and found that even gentle brushing would release clouds of black "dust" into the water. This appears to be a surface layer of oxidized paint--there is no chipping or other signs that the paint had failed mechanically to attach to the hull.

My question is whether it is better to leave the green scum *and* all the paint where it is, rather than lose some of the paint through the brushing process? Or is a clean bottom always a "happier" bottom, as long as the bottom paint is not wearing visibly thin?

This is my first boat with anti-fouling paint. As a diver, I can give it all the care it needs below the waterline, but a haul-out will be much more difficult and I'd like to delay it a few years, if possible. Thanks in advance for any insight or suggestions!

If the paint produced a "plume" of color when cleaned, it is an ablative paint. These paints need cleaning just like any other and removing some if it during the cleaning process is simply the nature of the beast. That said, you can minimize the pluming by cleaning it with something very soft, like carpet or a microfiber towel (not a deck brush.) The trick is to never let the bottom get foul to the point where something very soft won't do the job.

Thanks for the info, fstbttms. I can tell by your avatar that you're no stranger to working underwater... I'm thinking of taking my pressure-washer down & jetting the scum off my hull without the elbow grease required by a brush (or carpet or cloth, etc.) Does that sound like a good idea? I figure if some of the paint is going to "plume" anyway, might as well find a way to make it as quick and easy as I can. What is your experience using water pressure underwater as a cleaning technique?

Thanks,
Steve

Never, ever use a pressure washer on a painted surface underwater. Unless blasting the paint off the hull is your intention.

Boydster said:

We need to haul, repaint and zinc our GB42 this spring. We're moored in brackish water and have to abide by Canadian environmental regulations. Any recommendations?...and what kind of quantity am I looking at?
Thanks - Boyd

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WEST MARINE PCA Gold Antifouling Paint with Irgarol | West Marine

I too am in brackish water (La Conner, WA). Pretty much anything with Irgarol (West Marine PCA Gold, Woolsey Yacht Shield, Pettit Ultima 40/60) will last for a very very long time. We have been very happy with this product.....going on 5+ years (quarterly bottom cleaning). 2 coats with a 3rd along the waterline.


As far as amount you'll need..... here is a calculator for a basic guide.

Bottom Paint Calculator

Canadian regs don't allow anti-slime additives.