# Cayenne Pepper Bottom Paint



## Dockdozer (Apr 16, 2009)

Here the other day while I was at the dry dock, their was an old salt doing a bottom job on his boat. I noticed their was a large container of cayenne pepper next to his paint can, so I had to ask??? He was adding it to his bottom paint. Huuuuu! Is their anyone out their that has herd of this before? Cayenne pepper is to hot for me, kind of makes since, or what?
Dockdozer


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

This idea has been tossed around quite a bit, and I seriously doubt it works for any significant duration. While it might work a bit initially, if there was any real effective increase in protection, given the low-cost of the ingredients...don't you think someone would be exploiting it commercially???


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## Fstbttms (Feb 25, 2003)

One thing you'll learn after being around boats for awhile is that "old salts" don't always know their ass from a hole in the ground and that old wive's tales die a slow death.

OK, actually I guess that's two things you'll learn after being around boats for awhile. 

Here a recent thread on the subject from the Sailing Anarchy board:

Chili pepper juice in bottom paint - Sailing Anarchy Forums


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## bubb2 (Nov 9, 2002)

This is Billy Bob Du Prey!

You all now nothin' bout no bottom paintin'
I been sellin' Cayenne bottom paint fur years. I mix it up out back myself.
I got me 3 different ones too! "Mild" fur you Yankee's! "Make ya hollar" for you Texas'n. My bestest sellar is "Blow your F'in Mind" 

Any paint left over makes Good BBQ sauce, just ask CD!

Please send your payment of $39.99 plus shippin' and handin' to

Billy Bob's Paints
123 Snake Bend Rd.
Flooded Swamp, Louisianana. 45678


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## sww914 (Oct 25, 2008)

You take paypal Billy Bob?


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## johnshasteen (Aug 9, 2002)

Cayenne pepper is water soluble, I doubt if it is suitable for bottom paint. It is, however, great for spicing up a Bloody Mary.


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## T37Chef (Oct 9, 2006)

If you think cayenne pepper works well, try mixing in some habanero chile LOL


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## bubb2 (Nov 9, 2002)

sww914 said:


> You take paypal Billy Bob?


Billy Bob here! Paypal? what in the livin' H is that? Is that like the $20 i got from uncle Ray buck to hold me over till pay day? he was a pal and I got to pay him back. Long time between pay days around here. to bad Ray!

I Don't take no time payment either! paint usually falls off before the next payment is due and people don't pay. Learned me some good business stuff!


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## fullkeel7 (Apr 16, 2008)

T37Chef said:


> If you think cayenne pepper works well, try mixing in some habanero chile LOL


LOL? Hey this really works! I use ground up dried habaneros mixed with cayenne on half of my bottom and the other side I use a half and half mixture of menthol and eucalyptus. I got this idea from old Burger King commercials...hot side hot, cool side cool. I've never had any crustacean infestation on either side....I just wish I had a boat to see if I get the same results!


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## johnferrell (Feb 1, 2009)

Just my two cents worth, A friend of mine that sails in corpus Christi, TX swear by it. He panited his 25 footer 4 years ago with cayene peper mixed on the panit and had very little growth when he pulled it out last sume to repaint. I saw the bottom two weeks after he pulled it and it looked good. But he has been known to exagerate every know and then.


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## CaptainForce (Jan 1, 2006)

I participated in a study that compared the density of barnacle attachemnts to plywood surfaces that were painted with various coatings including mercury, tin and copper oxide paints some of which included cayenne pepper as that was an additive suggested by shrimpers in the area. Although we found a variety in the performance of the different coatings, none of the outcomes suggested that cayenne pepper decreased the density of attached barnacles. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew


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## johnshasteen (Aug 9, 2002)

johnferrell said:


> Just my two cents worth, A friend of mine that sails in corpus Christi, TX swear by it. He panited his 25 footer 4 years ago with cayene peper mixed on the panit and had very little growth when he pulled it out last sume to repaint. I saw the bottom two weeks after he pulled it and it looked good. But he has been known to exagerate every know and then.


Paloma is berthed just off of Corpus Christi Bay and from local knowledge, I would say he is exagerating. Most bottom paint doesn't last three years on the Texas Gulf Coast - unless you quick haul and power wash or dive on the boat every year or so and scrub off the bottom.


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## johnferrell (Feb 1, 2009)

like I said he has been known to exagerate.


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## mgiguere (May 22, 2004)

I can tell you where cayenne pepper works great: In my bird food...it keeps the squirrels away (they don't like it and the birds don't care).


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

Probably, because birds don't have taste buds like mammals do...


mgiguere said:


> I can tell you where cayenne pepper works great: In my bird food...it keeps the squirrels away (they don't like it and the birds don't care).


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## AdamLein (Nov 6, 2007)

sailingdog said:


> Probably, because birds don't have taste buds like mammals do...


Actually, capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers spicy, stimulates heat and pain receptors, not taste buds. I don't know whether birds have such receptors on their tongues, or, if they do, whether they operate the same way humans' receptors do.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

good point, but you know what i meant... 


AdamLein said:


> Actually, capsaicin, the chemical that makes peppers spicy, stimulates heat and pain receptors, not taste buds. I don't know whether birds have such receptors on their tongues, or, if they do, whether they operate the same way humans' receptors do.


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## AdamLein (Nov 6, 2007)

sailingdog said:


> good point, but you know what i meant...


Yup. You were pointing out, indirectly, that barnacles and algae don't have taste buds either


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