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bottom paint hard or ablative

2K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  alanr77 
#1 ·
For fresh clean water is hard paint o.k.?
 
#2 ·
Generally speaking, yes. But it further depends on whether you will be leaving your boat in the water or keeping it on a trailer, whether you are concerned about maximum performance around the buoys or cruising, etc. Best advise is to ask an expert in your area. The type of growth there might be different from here (although, I suspect it will be pretty much the same in Arkansas as in Alabama.)
 
#5 ·
In my opinion, the only real problem with hard paints is that they leave you with a wonderful leftover to sand, scrape and deal with once the copper has leached out. The ablative paints wear away and leave you with less to deal with. On power boats, I have used hard bottom paints in both fresh and salt water with few issues. The speed at which the boat travels seems to favor the hard paint as it does not wear away as fast. However, on a sailboat I have rarely gained enough speed to wear away the ablative paint at a rate that made it impractical. Another thing to think about is how you will be scrubbing the bottom. In Savannah Ga, with the extremely warm water and high growth rate, I have to scrub the bottom almost weekly. This quickly wears away my bottom paint (ablative) to the point that I can see the base coat by the end of the season. Don't know if this helped you in any way but just a few things to think about. AR
 
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