Bottom Paint Recommendation - New England & Florida Waters

[Marc G]

With the present deep discount coupons available for bottom paints , I am looking to buy paint for Spellbound, my Catalina 34 here in CT. The plan is to winter in FL this coming Fall.  Having not purchased bottom paint for years, I am looking for recommendations for a good value paint for these cruising areas.  I do not know what the present paint is, but it is in good condition after last season. I am attempting to contact the previous owner to ascertain what he used.

Thanks,
Marc

[karista]

Marc

You will need to find out what type of paint you have now on the boat.
If its an ablative bottom paint than here in Florida I use the Petitt Ultima SR60, others in our club also are happy with the Interlux Micron Extra.
If you have hard epoxy paint than my recomendation for Florida is the Petitt Trinidad SR paint, which pretty much everyone in our club uses.
You can not apply the Trinidad onto a ablative paint, so if have an ablative paint you must either remove it to apply a hard/epoxy paint or simply keep using ablative paint. I get about 3 seasons by using 3 gallons when painting the bottom.
The warm waters here require a top quality paint, so don't go for the basic low priced paints as they will not hold up. The haulout/launch costs are high, and most marinas do not allow you to do any work on the boat. So apply a quality multiseason paint, and you should get 3 seasons out the paint.

[Ken Juul]

Very Happy with Pettit Horizon.  Ablative, growth sloughs off easily.  Got 3 years out of the last application of 2 gallons in the chesapeake.  Working well in the keys.

[karista]

Very Happy with Pettit Horizon.  Ablative, growth sloughs off easily.  Got 3 years out of the last application of 2 gallons in the chesapeake.  Working well in the keys.

\

Ken
I used to sail out of Deal, MD and then down to the Gulf Coast of Fl, the waters of the Cheasapeake are not remotely comparable to the hot fouling waters in the summer here on the Gulf Coast.  At first I tried the lower cost paint that I used successfully in the Cheasapeake, they do not hold up here very long. You are currently lucky in the Keys as the waters are cold and there is not much barnacle growth at this time of the year in FL waters, and any paint would be ok.

[Ron Hill]

Marc : I believe that an ablative paint will do well in any location.  I'd get the highest copper content so you have a "multi year" ablative rather than the cheaper lower copper content ablative.

Then like any bottom paint, the best thing is to move the boat as much as you can and not let it set parked!! 
In Florida I found the biggest problem are the grasses, not the barnacles and oysters!

A thought   

[Clay Greene]

Just saw this on the Practical Sailor website - survey of users for bottom paint preferences by regions of the country:

Northeast and Mid-Atlantic
In the Northeast, where seasons are short and many sailors apply a new coat of bottom paint every year, the budget-priced paints, particularly ablatives (because they don't build up year after year) like Interlux's ACT, had a larger following than in other regions. A high percentage of sailors in this area also used high-strength ablatives such as Interlux Micron Extra. We presume these boats are being relaunched the following season without being repainted.

Favorites from Interlux included: Micron 66, Micron Extra, Fiberglass Bottomkote NT, and ACT. Pettit paints popular in this region included the ablatives SSA, Vivid, and Hydrocoat, and the budget-priced hard paint Unepoxy.

Southeast
In the warmer waters of the Southeast, the more potent modified epoxy (hard) paints were predominant. The single most popular paint in this region was Pettit's Trinidad, although Interlux's Micron paints (Micron 66, Micron CSC, and Micron Extra) combined for a higher number of followers. Pettit's Ultima SR 60, a high-strength ablative, and Hydrocoat SR, a water-based paint that attracts do-it-yourselfers with its easy cleanup and no odor, were also top contenders. Other popular Interlux paints included value-priced Bottomkote NT. Sea Hawk's Cukote also turned up good numbers on the survey.

[Analgesic]

Nobody has yet mentioned Blue Water paints which get one of the top ratings from Practical Sailor every year and cost substantially less than the better known brands.  In Massachusetts I have used the 45% copper ablative for years based on their recommendation.  I apply it myself (very easy) and have never seen a barnacle.  I recommend reading the latest PS paint review and you'll see that spending a lot more doesn't necessarily get you a better product. 
Brian

[SailingJerry]

I couldn't agree more about the Blue Water paints. Their ablative has outperformed Interlux and Petit here at the bottom of the Long Island Sound by the East River. PS loves it, too.

[pablosgirl]

We used Pettit Trinidad on the last boat here on the Gulf coast (Galveston Bay) and got 10 years out of the bottom.  Had a few barnacles on the bottom of the keel, but other wise just slime over the rest of the hull,  That was a 4 coat application.  On our current 34  We painted the bottom in '09 with Trinidad SR, almost 5 years ago and the bottom is still barnacle free according to the diver though getting a little thin at the waterline in the bow section. We have the bottom scrubbed quarterly.  We are probably going to renew the bottom this year.

It is not the cheapest paint on the market by any means but if you keep your boat in the water all year long then you will get multiple seasons out of it.  We have found it fairly easy to apply with a roller and tray.  You can even use the "tip" brush method to knock down the roller stipple effect and get a smoother finish.

[Jeff Kaplan]

Marc,

With the short sailing here in Salem,Ma.  I repaint the bottom with Interlux ACT ablative, yearly.  The paint is lower cost, no build up, easy to apply with excellent results. I use a gallon and a quart for full coverage and get it when Defender has their spring sale, best price.  Your boat, your choice but I vote for ACT....Jeff