Bottom Paint

[witeagle]

What bottom paint do you use on your boat for your area.

I have been using Petit Horizons but thinking of changing Blue Water COPPER SHIELD™ 45 which claims to be equal to Horizons.

Anyone ever try it?

[CaptainJR]

Mine came with Pettit 1818 from the Luhrs St. Augustine factory. I put Trinidad over it but had some problems around the thru-hulls, so I have gone back to the 1818.

[witeagle]

what kind of problems did you have?

[Almarktool]

Justin,

I put Pettit Trinidad on the new boat

Mark

[witeagle]

Mark,

Trinidad is a hard paint - I am sticking to ablative. There are layers and layers of hard paint under the Horizons ablative on the boat now. I plan on loosing 5 lbs myself while sanding that off this year.

Justin

[chick]

Micron Extra is an awesome ablative but very expensive. We have switched to Petit Hydracoat as a more reasonably priced ablative-Searay has used it for years as their standard bottom paint.
chick

[CaptainJR]

After putting on Trinidad, I had discoloration or "burning" of the paint around the bronze through hulls. I believe had to do with electrolysis from the surrounding water in my marina and the high copper content of Trinidad (70%). No problems before the Trinidad. So I went back to 1818 (56% copper) and so far so good. Anyone else seen this sort of problem?

[dpdash]

Have used Micron CSC since we've had the boat and I am going on two years right now, it is holding up surprisingly well.

[witeagle]

I had some great feedback on Blue Water COPPER SHIELD 45 on another message board. The feedback I received were from boat owners that have their boats in the same waters (NJ/NY) so we shall see what happens next year.

I am going to make 1 change though. Last year I pulled the boat in Sept and my shaft was 100% covered. I am going to put use Pettit's Underwater Metal Priming Kit on the running gear. Pettit told me to use a hard paint on the shafts after using the primmer since the ablative will wear off fast.

[marco99]

justin, I'm down in forked river, same waters as you. do you paint yours every year ?. My bottom looks good, really only needs some touch up but I have been thinking of putting on a coat just to be safe ..mark.

[witeagle]

Every other year I put recoat, and the middle year is just a touch up.

However, this year I am trying something new with this boat this year. It looks like there are a few thick spots from hard paint that was used in the past (prior owner). I am going to sand down enough but not everything, leaving the base layer of black on the boat.

I am then going to paint the bottom blue instead of black. This way I can see how the blue water's paint wears after the first year.