What type of bottom paint for Northwest waters

[dpod2003]

I am interested in the best type of paint to use a boat that will be kept moored in saltwater, in the Puget Sound region. I am also curious how many coats of paint to use, and how often this has to be done. On our sailboat I used 2 coats of a copper ablative, which was only needed about every 4 years. This is a whole new game for me.

 

[Pat Anderson]

Not an answer to your question, but if you are in Bellingham, you might consider dry storage as an alternative to mooring your boat in salt water. There is a great dry storage facility called Hilton Harbor. It is directly across from the entrance to Squalicum Harbor just past The Bitter End Boatworks on Hilton. They have a sling and put your boat in and take it out for you, giving you a chance to do a thorough fresh water wash between outings. We kept Daydream there for two summers and loved it.

 

[hardee]

I am looking into this as well. Comparing time for scrubbing vs $$$ for painting, and repainting biannually against change of value of boat +/- for eventual resale.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[hardee]

We had the CD 22 painted with Petit Vivid at Bitterend Boatworks in Bellingham in May. Pulled it out last week after several months in the water.

I used a soft boat brush on most of it to remove the soft green slime that wasn't removed from running the boat for several hours on the last trip that day. I could have wiped it off with a rag. No scrubbing needed and very little paint was removed due to the soft brush.

A rough brush was used around the engines and along the contact line between the bottom paint and the hull (where the bottom paint could have been brought up a bit higher).

Pleased with the result and it sure made clean up easier as we had no bottom paint before and would spend the better part of a day scrapping barnacles and cleaning after two months in the water.

The boat had multiple barrier coats and 3 coats of bottom paint after preping the hull by blasting with walnut or pecan shells.

From a Sep 7/2016 post by Phil Barnes in another thread.

I thought this was relevant to this thread as well, (hope the tiny URL thing worked.) I had talked to Bitter End based on the kudos that Pat and Patti had to say and how their boat looked after having it there. Sounds like they do a pretty good job. Still weighing cost over time vs valuation of the boat.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[thataway]

I won't comment on type of paint, since we no longer have a boat in the water full time in the PNW. (There may be restrictions on paint and bottom cleaning) But I like at least two coats of bottom paint. Prefer 3 coats. If coats are contrasting colors, you can assure complete coverage, and also see when the outside coat is wearing off.

If you are not taking the boat out of the water at all, then you might consider an epoxy barrier coat. Blistering is unusual in the cold waters of the PNW--but it is easier to put on a barrier coat before the boat is ever bottom painted, than later when all traces of paint have to be sanded off before the epoxy id applied.

 

[hardee]

When I talked to Jesse at Bitter End, he said they put on 5 coats of epoxy barrier, white, gray, white, gray, white, then 2 coats of the Petit Vivid, which is a semi hard bottom paint. It is guaranteed for 2 years, and depending on the use, could last 3-4 years. The repainting is going to run about $600 ($550 to $750). They also do all the prep work on the original paint job.

Harvey
SleepyC:moon

 

[dpod2003]

Thanks for all the replies to help. I believe the boat already has bottom paint on it, so I will have to find out the type. I am not sure if the barrier coats were applied. I will call Bitter End, as they are located here in Bellingham, to get more info.