"Ronald Raygun" wrote in message
. ..
Capt. JG wrote:

"Ronald Raygun" wrote in message
...

As I am not hauling out this year, I hope to get
some winter sailing in. I just hope my bottom paint lasts the full 18
months!

A full 18 mos? I guess that's normal, but I've gotten close to three
years
on mine. I used Micron 99. I'm hoping to see about that long a time on
the
new coat.

It wasn't super cheap, but it seems pretty cost-effective.

Do you generally stay afloat all the time with only occasional haul-outs,
or do you tend to follow a "6 months afloat, 6 months ashore" cycle, as
I usually do?

In other words, does your "close to three years" mean 3 half-years
immersed, with the intervening 2 half-years dry? If so, that would be
equivalent to my 18 months of uninterrupted immersion, because presumably
the length of time a coating stays effective is mainly related to the rate
at which the active ingredients leach out of the paint (or the paint
itself
erodes), and this only happens when immersed.

I usually slap on 1 or 2 thin coats before launching and very little
fouling is evident 6 months later, but the fouling was pretty heavy last
time I stayed afloat for 18 months.



My boat stays in the water. I don't haul except for paint or something else
serious enough to haul. I didn't haul her during the slightly less than
3-year time-frame. When I did, the project manager at the yard told me I
could have gone another 6 mos., but I was there, so I had it done.

I was fairly amazed actually, but when he swiped the hull with a cloth, you
could see that the paint was still good underneath a light layer of slime.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com