David Rive
Senior Member
OK Irv - spill the beans - what are you getting?
Here at the shipyard where I work we paint the bottoms of large yachts all the time. The first question the paint foreman has is, "What kind of paint is on the bottom now?" He wants to make sure that the new bottom paint will be compatible to the old bottom paint. For some of the larger boats if the current paint is not known, a sample of the old bottom paint is sent to Interlux or other paint manufacturer for analysis.
A little research on the manufacturers website might give you the right information.
Parks and I keep our boats in brackish water (engines and bottom and I find Trinidad works best. !
Diver Dave. Where are you located? Do you dive the Miami River?
Parks
Losing Possum is an opportunity to have Possum Too, your retired and should spend some of that Sale of HC money on Parks. My crew convinced me you only live once so we offered on a larger GB, it was accepted so tomorrow we go to survey and sea trial. This is the second sea trial for us in two weeks, first one we rejected. My gut tells me this is going to be ours (now to write the check).
My point is if I can do it you can too. Your younger, have more money, look a lot better and drink more beer so it should be an easy decision for you. LOL
With 25 years of DIY bottom jobs in S FL I will agree. Trinidad works better than any ablative or even other epoxy paints.
But, "with all majic you will pay a price". In this case, sanding off epoxy on vast surfaces of FB got old very quickly. AND, its the metal running gear that takes the first hit on hard growth. So, for me, its Trinidad on all below water metal, requiring that full, old film removal at 12 to 18 months. On the hull, its a high end ablative (with anti-slime hopefullly) that will NOT need sanding at the haulings, only a pressure blast and a few touch ups with a coarse scotch brite. Worked for me.
You guys talking about Trinidad SR? hard or ablative...?
I tried ablative paint years ago but it never lasted a year in South Florida on a boat that cruised at 20 knots and was used about 100 days per year.
The reason I ask is that we're contemplating a move of the boat to the FL area eventually. In our case, we mostly cruise 7 kts, but rarely can push up to 15 kts. We have a hard AF paint now. Given this and that we're averaging a slower speed, would you still recommend Trinidad SR, or something else for Florida...?