* Charlie Morgan wrote, On 3/24/2007 7:08 PM:
On Sat, 24 Mar 2007 18:54:01 -0400, Jeff wrote:
....
As for Practical Sailor's occasional dubious techniques, I've seen
that from just about every testing group that actually tells us how
they test. Although I don't always follow their recommendations, I
can't remember a time that I've been disappointed by their advice.
And there simply isn't anyone else doing tests, so for better or
worse, they/re the best. In the case of the CPP, it was rated "good"
for northern waters, while Micron was just "fair," so for half the
price, its worth a try.

I feel your trust in PS is misplaced. They don't just do unscientific testing,
but they are totally capricious as far as their recommendations.

I've never found that to be true. Perhaps you could give us a list of
other marine product testing magazines that do a better job.

Bottom paint
has traditionally been one of their most egrarious screwups. One year about 3
years ago, they tested all of the paints by the usual dubious methods. They then
proceeded to give the TOP rating to a paint that hadn't done as well as one of
the others, and stated it was simply because they "had always liked it, and it
was a long time favorite". That's about as unethical as you can get. When
talking about Practical Sailor's tests and evaluations, I don't think "garbage "
is too strong.

I don't recall anything of the sort. I just went over their last two
reviews, Oct and Feb, and there was nothing like that. It sounds like
they disagreed with your choice - but that seems odd given that you're
a Micron fan and I've been using it based on their recommendations.


I DO hope you have good luck with that CPP, but as everyone knows, there is no
free lunch. If Pettit has a similar, but name-brand paint for more money, you
really need to know why they would make a cheaper product for West Marine to
compete against their own sauce.

Perhaps because West can sell more. Now, when you go into West, two
of the top three brands are Pettit. That seems like a good strategy.
BTW, Pettit has paints that are more expensive and less expensive
that CPP.


The recent price hike of Micron Extra is mostly due to the soaring price of
COPPER.

You're a sucker for every lame explanation. A gallon of paint has
about 5 pounds of copper. In the last year, the price has gone from
$2 per lb to $3, so that's a material cost increase of $5 per gallon.
So while it may be a good excuse to raise prices, it doesn't mean
the retail has to go up $50. To prove that, there are a number of
paints, including some from Interlux, that are half the price that
have just as much copper, or even more.