Best Bottom Paint

[Drick]

For a slip in Delaware what is the best bottom paint to use?

How much cost for a 210 DAUNTLESS to be bottom painted?

Thank you for advice.

[Jefecinco]

Water conditions differ considerably from place to place. I recommend you ask boat owners at the marina you use to learn if there is a consensus among them as to the best bottom paint to use. The cost to apply bottom paint depends upon what is involved and the area to be painted. To that the cost of haul-out and relaunch must be added. Your fellow boaters at the marina should be able to tell you the approximate cost per liner foot in the area.

If your boat has never been bottom painted there will be the additional cost of applying a protective coating to prevent osmotic damage, a barrier coat, before bottom paint is applied.

A search of this site will provide you the information required for you to specify the barrier coat required for your boat.

[jimh]

Generally the owner's manual for a Boston Whaler boat will have excellent advice about bottom painting, what should be done in preparation, use of epoxy-barrier coats, and so on. I don't have the specific owner's manual for your specific boat, but here is what Boston Whaler recommended for decades to owners of their boats:

http://continuouswave.com/whaler/refere ... tml#bottom

When reading above, do not confuse brevity as indicating lack of information.

If you plan to hire all the work done, there is no way to know what local providers might charge in your marina. I recommend you contact the marina, get their price, and consider that estimate will probably be the most costly. If the boat is on a trailer, you can deliver it to non-marina providers who might have a lower fee.

If you plan to do all the work yourself, the cost will just be for the materials. The cost of materials will depend on which products you choose.

Here is a first-person account of applying bottom paint:

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4905&p=28226#p28219

Regarding bottom paint in general, some owners of Boston Whaler boats whose hulls are not already bottom-painted have opted to use a bottom paint color that matches the hull color for aesthetic reasons. Here is a prior discussion regarding that option:

http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/015309.html

In another recent topic thread, more good information about bottom paint was given. See

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4639&p=26317#p26871

As already suggested, the particular brand and formulation of bottom paint that works best is not universal in all waters. Check with local boaters for advice about what works well in your water.

[Drick]

Thank you for your very helpful replies.

[Oldslowandugly]

I do my own but that is my bane. Normally cheapest is never the best. However I have found an inexpensive bottom paint that actually does better than the expensive ones. It is called Nautical Proguard Ablative. It is ablative which means it wears away by water action exposing fresh biocide over the season and no removing spent paint next year. I just paint right over it year to year. But the best thing is I get NO barnacles with this paint. I used to use expensive TRILUX and still had barnacles. I boat in Western Reynolds Channel which is right off an inlet. We get everything the Ocean has to foul us with. I love this paint. No barnacles and just a thin coating of green algae after six months immersion that I just power wash off at the end of the season. I can get it for $100 a gallon locally and as little as $80 a gallon online. One gallon gets me about three coats on my 15 footer. I believe this is a subsidiary of Interlux so you know that it is a quality paint.

[biggiefl]

One gallon only covers 3 coats on a 15'? I can paint my 13 twice with a quart.

[macfam]

I’be been successful with Pettit Hydrocoat Eco. Water-based, no copper, easy clean-up. Ablative. Expensive. But incredibly effective.

[Oldslowandugly]

One gallon only covers 3 coats on a 15'? I can paint my 13 twice with a quart.

And that is with a 3" roller. With maybe one coat's worth left in the can for next season. At $100 a gallon I can't complain.

[dtmackey]

Over the years Practical Sailor has tested and retested new formulations of bottom paint and tested their performance and ranked them. Granted there are variables from their test to your actual use - location and the samples stayed in one area, not on a boat bottom running through the water, so take this into account.

Here's a link to the testing in 2017, but if you dig into the search function of their site, you can find other years with extensive testing.

https://www.practical-sailor.com/boat-maintenance/best-boat-bottom-paint-2017

D-