Bottom Paint

[greggus]

I have spent some time this winter looking for the best bottom paint for my Pearson 37. I have tentatively arrived at the harder surfaces and VC Offshore to be specific. The boat is sailed at least 3 times a week and I have her bottom cleaned once per month. Does anyone have an idea if a monthly bottom cleaning is enought for the harder, non-ablative, paints. Thanks in advance for the help.

[sailingdog]

gregus... A lot of this depends on where the boat is. If you're in lovely, sunny florida...then maybe not... if you're in Nova Scotia....once a month might be too much...

[greggus]

The boat is kept in Boston Harbor.

[svsirius]

No way -- VC offshore is designed primarily as a racing paint not antifouling and generally does not do well in the Atlantic or any medium to heavy fouling area. So unless your Pearson is one of the early 80s race ones and you are racing really seriously I think that's a bad choice.

If you really want a hard paint the look at Baltoplate or Trinadad. Trinadad is popular with full time cruisers cause it has lots of copper and you can scrub it [I use it now]. Baltoplate is popular with racers in saltwater as it also can be burnished.

Personally I think CSC or Micron Extra make a lot of sense as they are ablative and work well. Used these for yrs before switching to Trinadad. Primarly reason for switch was now cruising full time with boat always in the water. Don't have to worry about scrubbing the paint off.

[k1vsk]

Although you don't mention racing in your question, you posted it in the RACING section so it's a safe bet you put the question in this context. VC Offshore is quite commonly sold and used throughout New England specifically for this purpose and, although you'd be best served to pose the question to locals, I think you'll find monthly cleaning of the hull will be sufficient if my experience in Newport, RI is any indication. Most of the true racing boats use it although many only get wet on special occasions making reactivation a common work item.

[greggus]

The boat IS one of the early 80's racer/cruisers and that is how she is used. She is raced every Wednesday night and 5-6 times on weekends over the summer. Beyond that I am merely a deck hand to my wife as well as my 4 and 6 year old. I am planning to fair the bottom as soon as the weather warms up. Since I am planning to put the time into the bottom I thought I should examine the bottom paint a bit further. I have used Micron the last two seasons and the quest is primarily to find some more "gitty up".

[k1vsk]

that's what I thought. There are only a couple of paints that lend themselves to polishing so you're on the right track - just don't want to give away any competitive secrets until I find out what races you'll be in...

[greggus]

Well I won't be back down to the BBR any time soon. Still working on crew work. The only other race we could meet would be the Figawi, if you are in Newport that is. Could be doin the N.E. Championships this year though.

So what do you use...?

[paulk]

Each harbor has its own salinity/temperature/growth characteristics, which can vary considerably in different places, even within the same harbor. Asking your mooring neighbors what they find to be effective is probably the best route to success. We've used Micron CXC with Biolux and have found some seasons with essentially no growth where we are in Connecticut. The idea of a harder-finish bottom paint has tempted us, but the ablative CXC doesn't seem to slow our silver-winning. In our J/36 we have sailed past J/47's and beaten a Swan 45 in both distance races and 'round the buoys. Finding out that your projected cleaning schedule is insufficient is an expensive way to learn that the paint you choose might make you slower, not faster.

[bbistis]

Baltoplate has been great for me. Lasts forever and can be burnished to a baby's bottom. Tough to get right though, so get some professional advise. Good luck!