What Bottom Paint Is Best For Florida

[Surboum]

We are taking our Mainship 43 trawler from the brackish Chesapeake Bay this winter to the Gulf Coast of Florida which is much saltier and corrosive than her home on the Chesapeake. We are wondering what is the best bottom paint to use for the Florida waters. Currently, the boat is painted with Hydrocoat,?an ablative anti fouling paint and the bottom has just been cleaned.

 

[PhilPB]

I used Micron CSC. So far it is holding up well after 1.5 years. I have the bottom cleaned monthly and the diver sends videos both before and after. The paint is holding up well. Also where you are docked and the type of water comes into play as well. Our slip is close to the intracoastal and the water flow and flushing is much better for us than others further in the marina. I've had different divers in our marina comment that the boats further in the marina that experience less water flow and it is a bit warmer due to depth, they get more bottom crud than ours. We are in the northern West Palm Beach area.

 

[O C Diver]

I'm in Fort Myers from December through March on the Caloosahatchee River. While our salt content is less than the Gulf, it's definitely brackish. Having your boat bottom cleaned monthly is pretty standard here. If you're using the boat every week, an ablative may reduce how often the divers are needed. If you are using an ablative here, the divers are basically scrubbing it off each month. For me, I don't cruise fast enough for the ablative paint to shed. So I use hard paint (Petit Trinidad) and don't loose any when the divers scrub. Very happy with Trinidad.

Ted

 

[Jc180]

We have used Hydrocoat in New Smyrna Beach on an inflatable for a winter season. Prevented hard growth, but does need to be scrubbed periodically to remove soft growth.

We have a motorsailer that says in the water year round in New Smyrna Beach as well. We use an ablative with approx 40% Cu content. Diver cleans monthly. We get two, sometimes three years service before repainting.

 

[Barking Sands]

I'm in Fort Myers from December through March on the Caloosahatchee River. While our salt content is less than the Gulf, it's definitely brackish. Having your boat bottom cleaned monthly is pretty standard here. If you're using the boat every week, an ablative may reduce how often the divers are needed. If you are using an ablative here, the divers are basically scrubbing it off each month. For me, I don't cruise fast enough for the ablative paint to shed. So I use hard paint (Petit Trinidad) and don't loose any when the divers scrub. Very happy with Trinidad.

Ted

I am on the Anclote in Tarpon Springs. Same story. Initially I had ablative. Almost certainly I will be going hard paint next time.

 

[Mambo42]

Florida has warm waters, which is basically what we have in summer here in the Med. I changed to copper coat last time I had to do the anti fouling and so far I can say I am more than happy.
Yes, it is more expensive than a normal anti fouling, but it lasts for 10 years and after those 10 years it just needs a light sanding, one new layer of copper coat and you are good again for the next 10 years.

When we hauled out the boat in Turkey the hull was as clean as it could be, not a single barnacle on the hull, no damage to the copper coat, so it had worked perfect.
What were the cost ? I had to sand blast the hull, apply the copper coat and sand it before the boat went into the water. In total I paid little over 5000 USD for the whole thing, but knowing I won't need to do anything anymore for the next 10 years I basically save around 3000 USD every 2 years. That means 15.000 USD savings for the cost of 5000 USD. On top of that I don't need a diver anymore to clean the hull, which is another 1200 USD per year.

If any of you were ever contemplating copper coat, I can highly recommend it, but just make sure it is applied by someone who knows how to do it. Do it right and it works great, do it wrong and it won't work at all.