Bottom Paint - Hard Coat or Ablative?

[Kim Beatley]

I am sure this has been discussed, but I have not had time to research archives. My boat bottom is a mess; slime and little hard shell critters everywhere. I have had a diver on the boat at least once a month and as often as 2 1/2 weeks. After last cleaning, diver informed me there was no paint left.
I pulled the boat this week and boat yard which normally paints the bottom each year, recommended we call in the soda blaster and remove all paint, apply new barrier coat and apply two coats of hard paint in lieu of ablative.

Soda blast is complete as of today, and they are ready to apply barrier coat and paint tomorrow. The yard says this should give me two to three years of service.

Thoughts??

PV23

 

[Boatsb]

I am sure this has been discussed, but I have not had time to research archives. My boat bottom is a mess; slime and little hard shell critters everywhere. I have had a diver on the boat at least once a month and as often as 2 1/2 weeks. After last cleaning, diver informed me there was no paint left.
I pulled the boat this week and boat yard which normally paints the bottom each year, recommended we call in the soda blaster and remove all paint, apply new barrier coat and apply two coats of hard paint in lieu of ablative.

Soda blast is complete as of today, and they are ready to apply barrier coat and paint tomorrow. The yard says this should give me two to three years of service.

Thoughts??

PV23

micron ablative. No build up and I get 3+ years. I use micron 66 here in fl.

hard paint means more work and removal for the yard.

 

[DCMY #92]

Ablative - no question

 

[mdshore]

ablative if you are a regional cruiser , hard if you plan on putting on many miles . most people go with a hard base signal coat and work off of an ablative . some paints such as micron 66 are not meant for brackish or tidal waters and will not work .the best known hard antifoul is Trinidad sr , and Ultima SR 60 for ablative

 

[bobk]

I use a 'professional' Trinidad hard paint. Higher copper and slime resistant. Cruise about 3000 miles per year. No cleaning needed the first year, occasional cleaning the second and then more regular for the third season. Then haul, touch up and apply one more coat. Summers on the Bay, winters in SOFL.

Bobk

 

[magnawake]

Good Post. Keep the post coming. I'm pulling mine next month and heading to Fla. and Keys. I have Ablative but its not working anymore. I think I cleaned mine off over the last 2 years.

 

[Avenger]

We did my 36 a few years ago and the yard recommended hard paint over the barrier coat and abalative thereafter. They felt that the hard paint bonded better with the barrier coat and made a better foundation for the future ablative coats.

Depending on the barrier coat some require that the first coat of bottom paint be chemically bonded to the barrier coat and the instructions stipulate to bottom paint within a limited time period.

Either way it's an improvement over 40 years of crust:

I didn't expect to find some surprises after the blasting:

The original hard paint went for two seasons before it started to grow hair.

 

[Boatsb]

We did my 36 a few years ago and the yard recommended hard paint over the barrier coat and abalative thereafter. They felt that the hard paint bonded better with the barrier coat and made a better foundation for the future ablative coats.

Depending on the barrier coat some require that the first coat of bottom paint be chemically bonded to the barrier coat and the instructions stipulate to bottom paint within a limited time period.

Either way it's an improvement over 40 years of crust:

I didn't expect to find some surprises after the blasting:

The original hard paint went for two seasons before it started to grow hair.

if you apply the ablative correctly there is no issue with bonding. Most ablative paints do not work well over hard paints without a transition coat of primer.

 

[jim rosenthal]

I agree with Scrod. Blue Note had soda blasting and two more coats of IP2000 when she was at Slane's shop a few years back, then hard paint and ablative over that. I think we used Micron. Interestingly, the Micron has lasted amazingly well- I now have four seasons on it without a recoat, although we do touch up the sides and the boot stripe area to keep the slime down. No hard growth, except on the metal parts, and I think we all have that problem.

Scrod, what did you do for the blisters? We used VC Watertite for filling and fairing, and then IP2000 over that. It's held up well so far.

 

[mdshore]

if you apply the ablative correctly there is no issue with bonding. Most ablative paints do not work well over hard paints without a transition coat of primer.

that is incorrect. most traditional ablatives work well over hard modified epoxy antifoulants. if it is an aged surface you should run 40 to 60 grit across to prep the surface.

 

[Avenger]

Jim, we used West System epoxy with a filler on the blisters, but I don't remember which filler offhand. Once that set up it was sanded and Interlux barrier coated. mdshore, thanks for the reminder, the hard paint was a modified epoxy. So far, no issues and IIRC it's about five years since it was done.

 

[Boatsb]

that is incorrect. most traditional ablatives work well over hard modified epoxy antifoulants. if it is an aged surface you should run 40 to 60 grit across to prep the surface.

We use micron 66 almost exclusively and it needs a transition coat of primer. Also how do you age the pInt if I t was just put on? We average 3-4 years on a good bottom job if the diver does not scrape off the paint.

 

[jim rosenthal]

I have had better luck up here with Micron than anything else. Even last summer, when my boat sat in a shed for three months and didn't go out, it STILL didn't foul except on the metal areas, and not that badly there. And this bottom job is four years old.

 

[Kim Beatley]

Jim, do you paint the props, rudders and other running gear with the paint as well? I see some boats in the yard doing that??

 

[Kim Beatley]

New bottom complete. 7 coats of epoxy/paint in all. Test run yielded 28 knots.... not to bad for a 42 year old boat that would not make 18 knots when I took it in for bottom service....

 

[jim rosenthal]

No, we use that spray on zinc stuff, I think it is called Barnacle Buster. It works a lot better than bottom paint on metal parts, and doesn't come off as easily. So far, that has been the best for metal parts underwater for me. That and running the boat as often as I can- weekly, if I am able to, and I try VERY hard.

 

[rtrafford]

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[Dan Mapes]

We will be going through this as well but in the Summer since we are wintering on the boat. The folks we used in Ft. Myers recommended a hard coat followed by ablative also.

The thing that worries us is the blisters. We have some nickle dime quarter stuff. "They Say" the blisters will recur no matter what we do so I am wondering how to proceed. I was going to haul in the Spring, blast it, let it sit and then barrier and paint in the early Fall.

All of this is happening in SWFL during the rainy season so we wonder about the effectiveness of letting it sit.