On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:53:12 -0400, jeff wrote:

So my question is, was last fall particularly bad for growth in New
England, especially Boston Harbor?

I think you should go back to Micron Extra! No matter what, I never
have even a single barnacle attached. All I get is slime and fuzz,
which wipes off pretty easily.


Well perhaps, but the stuff I had on (old version CPP formulated then by
Petit but since changed I believe) worked pretty good for almost 2
seasons, at half the price. There was no speed reduction during my last
trip of the summer; it was only going to the haulout in mid October that
the problem was apparent. And the worst of the fouling was on parts
where I can't use copper paint anyways, the Saildrives. In any case,
I've got two gallons of Blue Water Copper Shield 45 ready to go on this
Spring.

Micron Extra gets a lot of recommendations and there are good reports
about Trinidad SR also. You can get special paint for the aluminum
sail drives which is quite effective if applied properly.

http://www.shipstore.com/SS/HTML/INT/INT5493A.html

Don't the saildrives require a haulout for zinc replacement every 6
months?

Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:53:12 -0400, jeff wrote:

So my question is, was last fall particularly bad for growth in New
England, especially Boston Harbor?
I think you should go back to Micron Extra! No matter what, I never
have even a single barnacle attached. All I get is slime and fuzz,
which wipes off pretty easily.

Well perhaps, but the stuff I had on (old version CPP formulated then by
Petit but since changed I believe) worked pretty good for almost 2
seasons, at half the price. There was no speed reduction during my last
trip of the summer; it was only going to the haulout in mid October that
the problem was apparent. And the worst of the fouling was on parts
where I can't use copper paint anyways, the Saildrives. In any case,
I've got two gallons of Blue Water Copper Shield 45 ready to go on this
Spring.

Micron Extra gets a lot of recommendations and there are good reports
about Trinidad SR also.

I used Micron and Micron Extra for about 6 years, but when the price
went up over $200 (now $240) I decided it was extortion. The CPP worked
so well the first year, I decided to let it go another so I could shed a
few pounds. As I said, it almost lasted two seasons. The Blue Seas is
top rated, and less than half the price of Micron, so its worth a try.

You can get special paint for the aluminum
sail drives which is quite effective if applied properly.

http://www.shipstore.com/SS/HTML/INT/INT5493A.html

That's what was on the saildrives. It nowhere near the old TBT based stuff.


Don't the saildrives require a haulout for zinc replacement every 6
months?


Yes, but hauling after 6 months is the norm in New England. I just
replaced them yesterday.

On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:16:59 -0400, jeff wrote:

Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:53:12 -0400, jeff wrote:

So my question is, was last fall particularly bad for growth in New
England, especially Boston Harbor?
I think you should go back to Micron Extra! No matter what, I never
have even a single barnacle attached. All I get is slime and fuzz,
which wipes off pretty easily.

Well perhaps, but the stuff I had on (old version CPP formulated then by
Petit but since changed I believe) worked pretty good for almost 2
seasons, at half the price. There was no speed reduction during my last
trip of the summer; it was only going to the haulout in mid October that
the problem was apparent. And the worst of the fouling was on parts
where I can't use copper paint anyways, the Saildrives. In any case,
I've got two gallons of Blue Water Copper Shield 45 ready to go on this
Spring.

Micron Extra gets a lot of recommendations and there are good reports
about Trinidad SR also.

I used Micron and Micron Extra for about 6 years, but when the price
went up over $200 (now $240)

I'll be buying a gallon of Micron Extra this morning for $188. That's
a sale price, but the regular price at the same place is $209, not
$240.

I use Micron 66. It seems a bit better than Micron Extra. My boat is in Long
Island NY.

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:16:59 -0400, jeff wrote:

Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:53:12 -0400, jeff wrote:

So my question is, was last fall particularly bad for growth in New
England, especially Boston Harbor?
I think you should go back to Micron Extra! No matter what, I never
have even a single barnacle attached. All I get is slime and fuzz,
which wipes off pretty easily.

Well perhaps, but the stuff I had on (old version CPP formulated then
by
Petit but since changed I believe) worked pretty good for almost 2
seasons, at half the price. There was no speed reduction during my
last
trip of the summer; it was only going to the haulout in mid October
that
the problem was apparent. And the worst of the fouling was on parts
where I can't use copper paint anyways, the Saildrives. In any case,
I've got two gallons of Blue Water Copper Shield 45 ready to go on this
Spring.

Micron Extra gets a lot of recommendations and there are good reports
about Trinidad SR also.

I used Micron and Micron Extra for about 6 years, but when the price
went up over $200 (now $240)

I'll be buying a gallon of Micron Extra this morning for $188. That's
a sale price, but the regular price at the same place is $209, not
$240.

On Sat, 28 Mar 2009 09:21:46 -0400, "Richard"
wrote:

I use Micron 66. It seems a bit better than Micron Extra. My boat is in Long
Island NY.


Micron 66 is designated for salt water only. There are a lot of
cruising spots in the LIS area that are up rivers in brackish or fresh
water, where Micron 66 isn't formulated to work properly.


wrote in message
.. .
On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:16:59 -0400, jeff wrote:

Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:53:12 -0400, jeff wrote:

So my question is, was last fall particularly bad for growth in New
England, especially Boston Harbor?
I think you should go back to Micron Extra! No matter what, I never
have even a single barnacle attached. All I get is slime and fuzz,
which wipes off pretty easily.

Well perhaps, but the stuff I had on (old version CPP formulated then
by
Petit but since changed I believe) worked pretty good for almost 2
seasons, at half the price. There was no speed reduction during my
last
trip of the summer; it was only going to the haulout in mid October
that
the problem was apparent. And the worst of the fouling was on parts
where I can't use copper paint anyways, the Saildrives. In any case,
I've got two gallons of Blue Water Copper Shield 45 ready to go on this
Spring.

Micron Extra gets a lot of recommendations and there are good reports
about Trinidad SR also.

I used Micron and Micron Extra for about 6 years, but when the price
went up over $200 (now $240)

I'll be buying a gallon of Micron Extra this morning for $188. That's
a sale price, but the regular price at the same place is $209, not
$240.

wrote:
On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:16:59 -0400, jeff wrote:

Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:53:12 -0400, jeff wrote:

So my question is, was last fall particularly bad for growth in New
England, especially Boston Harbor?
I think you should go back to Micron Extra! No matter what, I never
have even a single barnacle attached. All I get is slime and fuzz,
which wipes off pretty easily.

Well perhaps, but the stuff I had on (old version CPP formulated then by
Petit but since changed I believe) worked pretty good for almost 2
seasons, at half the price. There was no speed reduction during my last
trip of the summer; it was only going to the haulout in mid October that
the problem was apparent. And the worst of the fouling was on parts
where I can't use copper paint anyways, the Saildrives. In any case,
I've got two gallons of Blue Water Copper Shield 45 ready to go on this
Spring.
Micron Extra gets a lot of recommendations and there are good reports
about Trinidad SR also.
I used Micron and Micron Extra for about 6 years, but when the price
went up over $200 (now $240)

I'll be buying a gallon of Micron Extra this morning for $188. That's
a sale price, but the regular price at the same place is $209, not
$240.

Since I had already decided against Micron Extra I didn't go hunting for
the best price. I quoted the West Marine list, but I assumed that with
the Spring sales it would be under $200. I'm glad you got a reasonable
price.

BTW, the Blue Seas was on sale last week so I paid about $160 for two
gallons, no tax or shipping. Part of the reason I questioned Micron was
that they kept telling me it was "the price of copper" that caused the
price to run up over $200, but it was easy to find paints with more
copper that are half the price.

On Sat, 28 Mar 2009 10:17:53 -0400, jeff wrote:

wrote:
On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:16:59 -0400, jeff wrote:

Wayne.B wrote:
On Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:53:12 -0400, jeff wrote:

So my question is, was last fall particularly bad for growth in New
England, especially Boston Harbor?
I think you should go back to Micron Extra! No matter what, I never
have even a single barnacle attached. All I get is slime and fuzz,
which wipes off pretty easily.

Well perhaps, but the stuff I had on (old version CPP formulated then by
Petit but since changed I believe) worked pretty good for almost 2
seasons, at half the price. There was no speed reduction during my last
trip of the summer; it was only going to the haulout in mid October that
the problem was apparent. And the worst of the fouling was on parts
where I can't use copper paint anyways, the Saildrives. In any case,
I've got two gallons of Blue Water Copper Shield 45 ready to go on this
Spring.
Micron Extra gets a lot of recommendations and there are good reports
about Trinidad SR also.
I used Micron and Micron Extra for about 6 years, but when the price
went up over $200 (now $240)

I'll be buying a gallon of Micron Extra this morning for $188. That's
a sale price, but the regular price at the same place is $209, not
$240.

Since I had already decided against Micron Extra I didn't go hunting for
the best price. I quoted the West Marine list, but I assumed that with
the Spring sales it would be under $200. I'm glad you got a reasonable
price.

BTW, the Blue Seas was on sale last week so I paid about $160 for two
gallons, no tax or shipping. Part of the reason I questioned Micron was
that they kept telling me it was "the price of copper" that caused the
price to run up over $200, but it was easy to find paints with more
copper that are half the price.

I find it interesting that the production costs of the paint you are
using and Micron are probably similar regardless of differences in
material cost, yet Interlux doesn't seem to feel a need to compete on
price (which they could) to retain market share. Hmmmm.

Dave wrote:
On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:16:59 -0400, jeff said:

I've got two gallons of Blue Water Copper Shield 45 ready to go on this
Spring.

Hmm. I note that unlike their Copper Pro SCX 67, the marketing blurb for
this line doesn't say "can re-launch after extended haul-out while retaining
original antifouling properties."

Sure you ordered the right stuff?

Yes, the current version of Copper Shield 45 is rated as "Multi-Season"
but Practical Sailor does not have it in the 18 month survey so I'm not
sure if it will go two seasons.

However, I've never had an issue with extended periods with any ablative
as long as the boat keeps moving. I only had a problem last fall after
being idle for 7 weeks. My query was not about paints, but whether
other people noticed abnormal growth at the end of last season.

On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 22:45:22 -0400, Jeff wrote:

Dave wrote:
On Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:16:59 -0400, jeff said:

I've got two gallons of Blue Water Copper Shield 45 ready to go on this
Spring.

Hmm. I note that unlike their Copper Pro SCX 67, the marketing blurb for
this line doesn't say "can re-launch after extended haul-out while retaining
original antifouling properties."

Sure you ordered the right stuff?

Yes, the current version of Copper Shield 45 is rated as "Multi-Season"
but Practical Sailor does not have it in the 18 month survey so I'm not
sure if it will go two seasons.

However, I've never had an issue with extended periods with any ablative
as long as the boat keeps moving. I only had a problem last fall after
being idle for 7 weeks. My query was not about paints, but whether
other people noticed abnormal growth at the end of last season.

Yes, it seemed to be a very active season for bottom growth. Having
barnacles is still a paint failure in my book. As long as there is
Micron Extra covering a surface, there will never be any barnacles.

With the amount of effort involved in bottom painting and interim
cleaning, the price differential between paints is of no consequence.
If Micron Extra was $300 a gallon and "something else" was $100, I'd
still advise Micron Extra as the better deal.

wrote:
....

Yes, it seemed to be a very active season for bottom growth. Having
barnacles is still a paint failure in my book. As long as there is
Micron Extra covering a surface, there will never be any barnacles.

As I said, my major problem area was the saildrives, which had the
Trilux. Also, the rubber "fairing mat" around the saildrive was heavily
encrusted, while in years past it only had minor problems. The rest of
the only had occasional barnicals, not enough to cause a speed problem.



With the amount of effort involved in bottom painting and interim
cleaning, the price differential between paints is of no consequence.
If Micron Extra was $300 a gallon and "something else" was $100, I'd
still advise Micron Extra as the better deal.

If you're happy with the performance and don't mind paying an extra few
hundred bucks for piece of mind, that's fine. However, your opinion is
not shared by everyone. The recent Practical Sailor report only gave
Micron Extra Fair/Fair (FL/CT) ratings, one of the lowest in their 6
month ablative survey. Blue Seas Copper Shield 45 was top rated as
Excellent/Good.