Maximum Time Between Haul-Outs

[casey1999]

Here is Hawaii a haul-out is a major issue for me. Need to sail the boat about 60 miles to get to a hual-out location. Then the in/out fee is $400 and $70 dollars a day for storage on the hard- adds up to a lot of money and time.

Trying to get the longest time I can between having to paint bottom. I bottom painted about 18 months ago with an ablative paint and dive the hull every few months and wipe with a soft piece of carpet to remove slime. So far everything is holding up well and looks as if I could get maybe another 18 months out of the paint. I will keep an eye on the zincs and replace under water if required.

Any reccomendations on a type of paint that may last longer (maybe a hard paint) and a better technique to clean the hull with (a plastic scraper has been suggested). It would be great if I could get say 5 years between haul outs.
Regards

[tommays]

I think your doing well with the 3 years your talking about

I don't ever use anything other than a normal bathroom washcloth to clean my paint which is about every two weeks here due to the high fouling conditions and large amount of barnacle larvae

[travlineasy]

I saw an antifouling bottom paint article in Practical Sailor about a year or so ago and they touted a paint that pretty much resisted everything, including slime. The test plates were immersed in south Florida in a canal where marine growth covered just about anything in the canal. The one paint, though, looked as good as the day it was applied and showed no signs whatsoever of erosion. If I recall correctly, the cost was about $150 a gallon. You may be able to find this article by searching the Practical Sailor website.

Good Luck,

Gary

[casey1999]

Originally Posted by travlineasy

I saw an antifouling bottom paint article in Practical Sailor about a year or so ago and they touted a paint that pretty much resisted everything, including slime. The test plates were immersed in south Florida in a canal where marine growth covered just about anything in the canal. The one paint, though, looked as good as the day it was applied and showed no signs whatsoever of erosion. If I recall correctly, the cost was about $150 a gallon. You may be able to find this article by searching the Practical Sailor website.

Good Luck,

Gary

Yes I subscribe to that mag and read/have the issue (they did an update of the paint test in the October 2011 month issue). Might try that paint if I can get it at West Marine or other local store. If I cannot get local, shipping a hazardous paint would be expensive.

[killarney_sailor]

What was the magic paint? I haven't had a PS subscription since we went off cruising.

[speciald]

Use a Hard ablative (I use Sea Hawk Islander 44+ hard ablative in the carribean - not for sale in the US. Apply extra coats at the waterline, and leading edges of hull and keel. Wipe as needed with a terry cloth rag.

[casey1999]

Originally Posted by killarney_sailor

What was the magic paint? I haven't had a PS subscription since we went off cruising.

Good results were Hydraocoat Petit's Ultima SR40 and Interlux Micron 66 (after 24 months)

Any comments on this paint? (advertises 10 year life)
multiseason antifouling 10 years protection hard wearing copper filled epoxy resin copper antifoul

Just checked web site and called US distributor, looks promissing but at a cost of $900 for the material for a 34 foot boat, but if it last 10 years, might be worth it.

[blt2ski]

I got about 3.5 yrs on the last paint job with micron. I applied a WM ablative paint last Feb, so far so good, it is staying cleaner than the Micron did at 1/3 the cost gal.

BUT, Here in the Salish sea where I am, yeah we have barnacles, but for the most part, sounds as if we do not have the issues for those farther south, so while some of us get 3- I've heard 5 yrs once or twice, I would not count on it.

I did read an article about a shark skin coating you could put on your boat, testing has shown nothing growing on it too. navy is looking into this vs the Billions they spend on keeping the fleet free of growth. I would wonder about the friction of the product myself, then again.....

Marty

[chef2sail]

In past years we used the Micro 66 with great results on the Chesapeake. This year we painted with Ultima 60. Even more Cu than the Ultima 40. Has antislime ingredient also. Boat syaed groweth free most of the summer.
So far the best ablative paint I have ever used
Dave

[CaptainForce]

The best I've done was with Petit Trinidad 75 for four years, but I was changing locations a lot and doing a lot of cleaning during the last year. I don't think that the best paint in one location will always perform well in another location.
Hey, tommays, you're not cleaning every two weeks up in that cold New York water now are you? Are you still in the water or hauled out? Take care and joy, Aythya crew