Dumb Question

[Photolomy]

If you are paying a monthly diver, what is the point of bottom paint?

[jmooney]

Makes the diver’s job a lot easier!

[oscarvan]

Yeah, diver doesn't do the whole thing. He hits problem areas. Waterline, running gear. Maybe a little more every third shot depending on conditions. You make him do the whole thing every time he's going to re-asses his rates.

[Pascal]

My $2 a foot diver does the whole hull (and running gear). By doing it monthly and with decent paint it s a quick wipe on most of the hull

Without bottom paint they d charge a lot more!

[Photolomy]

Yeah, diver doesn't do the whole thing. He hits problem areas. Waterline, running gear. Maybe a little more every third shot depending on conditions. You make him do the whole thing every time he's going to re-asses his rates.

Maybe in your lake/river I remember buying my boat in St Charles, and it was just a bit slimy. Here in FL in the Indian River (ICW), the growth can be aggressive.

[Freestyle]

I paint when the divers complain and raise their rates or frequency of visits.

Seven years per bottom job seems to be the norm. I am not sure if the economics work great but I always have a clean bottom when I cruise and that makes me happy which is why I have a boat.

Bruce

Freestyle
1986 62 CPMY (54MY with ext)
Tampa

[Briankinley2004]

I do my own diving and can tell you when the paint gets thin the growth gets more intense and faster growing. To the point in FL where you can clean it one week and the next week things are coming back. Even with a fresh paint job you are looking at cleaning every 3 weeks in the heat of summer. Bruce I would like to know what kind of paint you are using to get 7 years in Tampa. I am an hour North of you and thats a pipe dream for me. Are you wet slipped or do you dry dock?

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

I do my own diving and can tell you when the paint gets thin the growth gets more intense and faster growing. To the point in FL where you can clean it one week and the next week things are coming back. Even with a fresh paint job you are looking at cleaning every 3 weeks in the heat of summer. Bruce I would like to know what kind of paint you are using to get 7 years in Tampa. I am an hour North of you and thats a pipe dream for me. Are you wet slipped or do you dry dock?

It would be non-ablative I’d think. Even so, seven is a big number.

[captainwjm]

It would be non-ablative I’d think. Even so, seven is a big number.

i switched to non-ablative and got 5 years in the Keys. Diver does the whole hull and running gear each time.

[oscarvan]

I've always thought that it depends on how much you run. If you're a dock queen get an ablative. If you do 2000 nm a year get a hard one as the ablative would wear off faster. Reason I say that is that in the years I did a lot of miles you could see where it wore off prematurely at the bow and waterline so I switched to a non ablative and that problem went away, and I did not see any increase in fouling.

I am prepared to be wrong here.