Perreta's thread about bottom painting got me wanting to rant on the
subject. My 28' boat is in a severe fouling area here in N. FL and
facilities for hauling are distant. Consequently, getting multi-year
anti-fouling is very important.
Over the years, I have found that surface prep is very important and
most people you pay to do the job do not do this. Sanding with 80
grit to roughen the old paint is necessary for the hard paints like
Trinidad. For multi-year use, ablative paints just do not work here.
Multiple coats are absolutely necessary to get maximum copper. I buy
a gallon and a quart and use the entire amount on my 28' boat.
3 years is about the maximum time I can go before the paint stops
working well although after two I have to occassionally scrub near the
bow.
I'd like to pay someone to do the bottom job but my sad experience is
that nobody does it my way and I have been unhappy with everybody
elses work. Worse, even finding a place to get her hauled is
difficult around here. There is one sorta-travel lift in very
questionable condition about 6 miles away that is rarely operable and
another 40 miles away that works about 50% of the time. So, getting
bottom jobs done is difficult making long times between hauling
necessary for me.

"Frogwatch" wrote in message
...
Perreta's thread about bottom painting got me wanting to rant on the
subject. My 28' boat is in a severe fouling area here in N. FL and
facilities for hauling are distant. Consequently, getting multi-year
anti-fouling is very important.
Over the years, I have found that surface prep is very important and
most people you pay to do the job do not do this. Sanding with 80
grit to roughen the old paint is necessary for the hard paints like
Trinidad. For multi-year use, ablative paints just do not work here.
Multiple coats are absolutely necessary to get maximum copper. I buy
a gallon and a quart and use the entire amount on my 28' boat.
3 years is about the maximum time I can go before the paint stops
working well although after two I have to occassionally scrub near the
bow.
I'd like to pay someone to do the bottom job but my sad experience is
that nobody does it my way and I have been unhappy with everybody
elses work. Worse, even finding a place to get her hauled is
difficult around here. There is one sorta-travel lift in very
questionable condition about 6 miles away that is rarely operable and
another 40 miles away that works about 50% of the time. So, getting
bottom jobs done is difficult making long times between hauling
necessary for me.



Trinidad SR is great stuff but getting quite expensive. Last time I hauled
was six years ago and the boat's been in the water in south Florida the
entire time. I added tributyl tin to the paint to give it some extra potency
and it lasted quite well for about three years. It's still acceptable after
six years though it's got to the point where it's wearing thin and gone
completely in a couple of areas around the LWL.

I used two gallons which resulted in about eight coats from LWL down about
two feet and four coats everyplace else except 10-12 coats on the rudder and
bows shearwater areas. The potency is not what it was during the first
couple years but it still stops barnacles from growing but the slime and
other odd growth needs to be scrubbed off with a scrub brush about once a
month now.

I figure I've saved about four thousand dollars on haul outs over that
period of time. The bottom line is the fewer haul outs you can get away with
the better. The more paint you put on at one time the better.

Wilbur Hubbard

Wilbur Hubbard wrote:



Trinidad SR is great stuff but getting quite expensive. Last time I hauled
was six years ago and the boat's been in the water in south Florida the
entire time. I added tributyl tin to the paint to give it some extra potency
and it lasted quite well for about three years. It's still acceptable after
six years though it's got to the point where it's wearing thin and gone
completely in a couple of areas around the LWL.


Missing around the length, waterline? WTF are you talking about?

"slide" wrote in message
...
Wilbur Hubbard wrote:



Trinidad SR is great stuff but getting quite expensive. Last time I
hauled was six years ago and the boat's been in the water in south
Florida the entire time. I added tributyl tin to the paint to give it
some extra potency and it lasted quite well for about three years. It's
still acceptable after six years though it's got to the point where it's
wearing thin and gone completely in a couple of areas around the LWL.


Missing around the length, waterline? WTF are you talking about?



After six years of sailing and scrubbing it wears thin at the boot stripe
which represents the LWL. Sorry, but I keep forgetting there are NO sailors
here.

Wilbur Hubbard

Frogwatch wrote:

I'd like to pay someone to do the bottom job but my sad experience is
that nobody does it my way and I have been unhappy with everybody
elses work.

Over the years I've found that it doesn't pay to have someone else do my
boatwork. I learned that with bottom paint when I paid a yard to put
two coats one, and I supplied the paint. It turned out I was on board
while the yard worker put a coat on and then started removing the
masking tape. They were going to do one coat, and then keep the extra
paint. They then delayed putting on the zincs on the saildrives until
the hour before launch, when it was discovered they had the wrong zincs.

From then on I decided the I could screw up just as well as the yard
bozos, and for a lot less money! One by one, I found I could handle
jobs that seemed daunting before. For example, I had a major yard
replace a saildrive seal while traveling - they seemed to do the job
properly but the prop fell off a few months later! A few years ago I
changed the other one myself, saving hundreds plus no aggravation. I
had trouble getting marine refridgeration help, so I got my own license,
gauges, and 134a tank and I've taken care of business since. Same with
canvas work and minor glass work. In fact, the only thing I paid
someone else to do in the last 6 years is the rigger who pulled the mast
- its a little hard to do without a hoist, and he only charged half
because I helped him pull three others at the yard that day.

Wilbur, Gregory, Janet etal said " After six years of sailing and
scrubbing it wears thin at the boot stripe
which represents the LWL. Sorry, but I keep forgetting there are NO
sailors
here.

Wilbur Hubbard "

Good point asshole, oops, you'e here are you not? BaaaaWaaaaaaa!

Frogwatch wrote:
... For multi-year use, ablative paints just do not work here.
Multiple coats are absolutely necessary to get maximum copper. I buy
a gallon and a quart and use the entire amount on my 28' boat.
3 years is about the maximum time I can go before the paint stops
working well although after two I have to occassionally scrub near the
bow ...

When I wintered in Florida during the 1990's I found I had to have a diver
go down once a month to scrub. I picked this up from others nearby who were
well experienced with Florida conditions. I have never used soft or
ablative paints, but my guess is that they would not work well under these
conditions. The Trinidad I have been using for a long while did, however,
work well enough. Meanwhile I get quite good results in the Canadian
Maritimes but the swimming is a bit tough.

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://home.comcast.net/~kerrydeare