Bottom Paint ... what to use

[McSwiggin]

O.K. so I am going through the fun of scraping and sanding the bottom

I will check for blisters fill em and then a couple of coats of barrier.

What should I use for bottom paint ? Ablative or hard finish with copper ?

I have a 30 foot Pearson that is mostly cruising but I like to sail her ?

Capt McSwiggin

[zz4gta]

try the search function.

[tommays]

Local success is the key factor

[Minnewaska]

Pettit has an online interactive site, where you answer a few questions such as location, desires between durability v speed, etc and it makes a recommendation or two.

[Fstbttms]

Originally Posted by McSwiggin

What should I use for bottom paint ? Ablative or hard finish with copper ?

Most important factors to consider when choosing an anti fouling paint:

1.- Region of use
2.- What are others near you using with good results?

Your best bet for an educated recommendation on which product will work well for you is a local hull cleaner.

[McSwiggin]

The pettit site was fairly helpfull

[billyruffn]

Ablative or self-polishing paints come off by themselves over time. Hard paints have to be removed mechanically or chemically when they've ceased to be effective (and the coats build up).

I'd go with the ablative/self-polishing paint that seems to work well locally.

[Joesaila]

Where are you located? I'm in SE Mass and use CPP ablative every year. It helps a lot and its wise to wait till just before launching to put it on. I have a 30' cruiser and dawn a wetsuit about once a season to scrub the growth and change zincs. WM has the black on sail and the blue I use has a $40 rebate.

[sailjunkie]

OP, ultimately, it comes down to personal preferences.

We just put our boat back in the water today, after a 3-week haul out and refit (still a few loose ends to tie up ). Although we used Micron CSC (the PO used it, and I was not into scraping this year), at $199 per gallon, that is one very expensive bottom job. If we were to continue using this in the future, this would mean $400 every haul out. With haul outs every 2 years, that adds up.

One of my sailing buddies used a product called Copper Coat. The materials cost him just under $900 CDN, plus paint scraping. The web site claims that it will last for 10 years. If it works, this is probably the cheaper way to go, in the long run, even if I have to scrape paint. There are a lot of people waiting to see what Dave finds when he sends the diver down this year.

The web site link is below:

multiseason antifouling 10 years protection hard wearing copper filled epoxy resin copper antifoul

Hope this helps.