Bottom Paint Questions

as long as we are on the subject, How do i identify the bottom paint that is on my boat? it came this way and I have done nothing with it this last year.

I may be putting the boat in a freinds slip this summer while they are traveling.
 
Matt wrote:
[/quote] There are now products available that do not have copper in them, and we have switched over to using them exclusively. The product we are using is Sea Hawk Smart Solution ( http://www.seahawkpaints.com/Our-Produc ... ution.aspx ).
The nice thing is this paint can be used on metal parts as well as the fiberglass. Aluminum boats can be coated with the product without requiring expensive barrers to prevent galvanic corrosion.
The Northwest Marine Trade Association has begun work on drafting legislature to phase out copper based bottom paints over a period of years in Washington State.[/quote]


Even if it meant re-applying paint a little more often, this sounds like a good thing.

Matt, do you know if it's compatible with various current paints? For instance, I have CSC5583 Interlux Micron on my hull. Could this new paint be applied right over the old when it's time for a new coat, or would it be necessary to remove all current paint and strip the hull bare and start all over again? I went to the website you provided the link for, and it looks like maybe I'd get away with what they call "light sanding," but I'm a little uncertain about their references to current paint.
 
I am interested in using this new Sea Hawk paint on my boat and I currently have Interlux ACT, an ablative, on the boat bottom. (wears away like a bar of soap)

I contacted the Sea Hawk factory who sent me to a Seattle area tech rep. The rep said, yes, sand and apply. The Smart Solution paint is an ablative, so the existing paint can be the base for the new. If the color is slightly different, you can tell when the new paint has worn away.

It looks like this copper free stuff will be the wave of the future.
 
Good chart-

We've found the guys are Sea Hawk to be most helpful.

While the original non-copper products were nearly twice the price and lasted half as long, the latest products are competitively priced and look to be lasting as long as the copper products (two seasons in our waters normally).

So far we've been happy with the product and the support. We expect we'll see Pettit and Interlux introducing similar products as demand for non copper solutions increases.
 
Our boat has been in the water since April - bottom is painted. We've pulled it out twice (for first service and for hurricane) and had it power washed. Trim tabs were just awful with barnacles. Glad to be able to see details on painting the trim tabs by searching this site. Next time it's out of water - trim tab painting time (after washing again).
 
When we had a wet slip on lake Washington in Bellvue we had a 1989 (new) Seaswirl cruiser which we left in the water from April - Dec and never painted the bottom I would pull it out 1or 2 times in the middle of summer to clean it . no problems . fresh water is so much nicer on your gelcoated bottom . I love lakes and rivers for maintenance and all around boating .If I would have kept the boat in salt water would have painted the bottom .

Down here in Naples we have to pull the boat out every few months and clean it and then paint (touch up) every 9-10 months .salt water definatley does a job on everything .
 
two things I noticed this summer. One. the bottom paint on the 27 does just fine. I got very little if any growth on the hull where the bottom paint already existed.

Two. on the trim tabs and transducers where I used a spray paint can of "growth inhibitor" I got nothing but growth. I did not work at all. waste of my money. next time I will just use bottom paint.

Another thing I noticed is that as the west coast in requiring less or no copper, I saw a lot of ads for east coast companies offering higher copper content??? guess as we limit copper here they have to sell it some where.
 
starcrafttom":o02o23co said:
two things I noticed this summer. One. the bottom paint on the 27 does just fine. I got very little if any growth on the hull where the bottom paint already existed.

Two. on the trim tabs and transducers where I used a spray paint can of "growth inhibitor" I got nothing but growth. I did not work at all. waste of my money. next time I will just use bottom paint.

Another thing I noticed is that as the west coast in requiring less or no copper, I saw a lot of ads for east coast companies offering higher copper content??? guess as we limit copper here they have to sell it some where.
Click to expand...

Is bottom paint with copper in it a good idea on trim tabs or or other non-copper metal parts?
 
I've been doing some screw-hole patching both above and below waterline with epoxy per Dr. Bob's recommendations.

Now that I've got the patching done, I'm wondering if I need to apply gel-coat over the below-waterline patches or can I skip the gel-coat and just apply a primer and bottom paint?

I'm pretty sure I need *something* over the raw epoxy to protect from UV but not sure what's best.

jd
 
One thing I have done on boats in the past, is if you are using two or more coats of bottom paint, put black on as the first coat and then your color of choice over that.

That way when you start seeing black showing through, you know it's time to re-coat.
 
I am glad I read this thread and have trim tabs with no zincs :shock: . I have not observed any corrosion... yet. I will be adding the zincs ASAP.

We purchased our boat with worn/ half removed bottom paint and was hesitant to buy it because of it. I really did not want bottom paint (some lakes in CA will not allow boats with bottome paint). It turned out fine for us. We keep our new (to us) 22 cd in the water for about 2-3 months at a time and have found no problems. I did not paint the trim tabs and they do collect some growth in our brackish water here - I simply clean off, takes maybe 20 minutes. The benefit of having our boat in the water is HUGE... we use our boat way more than most people.
 
My boat will be in salt water for 8 to 9 months a year. What is the best protection I can put on the depth sounder transducer ?

Martin.
 
bridma":249k8bgj said:
My boat will be in salt water for 8 to 9 months a year. What is the best protection I can put on the depth sounder transducer ?

Martin.
Click to expand...

This might be a silly idea, but maybe you could zip tie a bag over it. There would still be water in contact with it, but it could help. Also, that's assuming you could reach it from the dock.
 
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