VC-17 Works great

[Maynard Rupp]

I promised that I would post the results of our VC-17 trial in salt water. Our 36C, "Unity", has been in the water a full year. 6 months of that was in the Great Lakes and the last 6 months have been in salt water. The boat now lives in Miami. We pulled it Friday and were very surprised how nice the bottom looked. No slime at all, some tiny white spots and no barnacles except on the struts and rudders which are bare brass. They preassure washed the bottom, we ran over it with a rotary scotch brite, and re-painted it. The whole bottom job including cleaning the shafts, rudders, struts, taping, and paint took my son and I 5 hours. We also changed every anode. No scraping, no sanding, no peeling paint. I love this stuff. The next day we polished the entire original Imron with 3M FinessitII and installed our new Abysslite underwater LED lights. Unity looks like a brand new boat and it only took 2 days. Thank you VC-17. I will post some pictures when I get back to Detroit.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

That's great Maynard. Why don't you paint the struts?

I painted my dad's 18' Whaler with VC17 before he took it to Florida for the month of February. It was in the water all month and it was still clean when it came out. No pressure washing necessary. Of course, it did get used almost everyday, so that's not really a good test. Your results, however, are great to hear. My 53 is all painted and ready to go with a new coat of VC as well. It was 73 degrees here today. I'm ready to try it out.

 

[Maynard Rupp]

That's great Maynard. Why don't you paint the struts?

I painted my dad's 18' Whaler with VC17 before he took it to Florida for the month of February. It was in the water all month and it was still clean when it came out. No pressure washing necessary. Of course, it did get used almost everyday, so that's not really a good test. Your results, however, are great to hear. My 53 is all painted and ready to go with a new coat of VC as well. It was 73 degrees here today. I'm ready to try it out.

In the Detroit area we always said the brass parts don't foul as they work like the copper in bottom paint. Here the problem is not slime, but barnacles and marine life that attach themselves to the brass parts. We didn't paint the struts or props, but did put VC-17 on the seawater intake covers. This time I used Interlux Tri-Lux on the trim tabs and aluminum swim platform brackets. This is an effort to avoid the dis-similar metal corosion that we were having on that stuff. The actual bottom really didn't need anything. One interesting fact is that we used to laugh about our blue VC-17 because it never was blue at all. As soon as we came to salt water, it turned blue and was completly blue at haul out last friday. The yard guys now see the bright copper color and can't believe that it will ever turn blue.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I paint the struts, inlet covers, trim tabs, and swim platform brackets with VC. The only thing I don't paint is the shafts and props. The first time I saw that copper color, I couldn't believe it would ever be grey (I use the original color).

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Some of you may wonder why we like to use VC-17. The single big advantage is that it does not build up to any measurable thickness. You can apply a new coat every year for 40 years and you still have no thickness. It was originally billed as a "sailboat paint". After I put it on our yacht club's new workboat everyone in Detroit was amased that we had no buildup after an entire season. Now many applied this stuff to their larger power boats. Now it was said to be a "fresh water paint". Well, we had an almost perfectly clean bottom when we hauled Unity after an entire year, half of that year was in Miami waters.
To prepare for VC-17, you need to remove all bottom paint to gell coat. This is an excellent opportunity to barrier coat your bottom. We used 7 coats of Interprotect 2000. You apply all the barrier in a single day and 2 coats of VC-17 the next day. The following year, you preassure wash and lightly scotch brite the bottom. You now apply a single coat of VC-17. Repeat that annually and your bottom work challanges are over.

 

[nyrussell]

Where can we get VC-17?

Noel

 

[Maynard Rupp]

Where can we get VC-17?

Noel

It is made by Interlux and is in the West Marine catalog. We use 3 quarts per coat. The first time needs two coats and one per year after that. It only comes in quarts. The copper is in a pouch that you stir in to the liquid. I thin it about 25% with xylene to keep it from drying so quickly.

 

[Pascal]

i used VC17 years ago on... worked fine but then they changed the formulation and was disapointed... that was around 1990 or so... i'm sure they'vce changed it a few times since

maynard, i hate to bring you the bad news but winter time in florida = very little growth ! the true test will be the NEXT six months :-(

 

[Maynard Rupp]

i used VC17 years ago on... worked fine but then they changed the formulation and was disapointed... that was around 1990 or so... i'm sure they'vce changed it a few times since

maynard, i hate to bring you the bad news but winter time in florida = very little growth ! the true test will be the NEXT six months :-(

Yeah, I know!!! The fact that we had no growth whatsoever is encouraging. The struts, shafts, and props sure had some growth. I am heading north friday hoping to get my body straightened out. The boat looks and runs like new now.

 

[Pascal]

good to know the boat is running well !! hopefully, the body will be in tip top shape too soon...