# Do all boats need antifouling bottom paint?



## AllThumbs (Jul 12, 2008)

Or can you just leave the gelcoat alone in some circumstances. For example a does a boat that is slipped on an inland lake for 4 months a year be left alone? The worst accumulation I saw on a boat last year at our sailing club was some green algae below the waterline. I am not sure if the boats had antifouling paint applied or not. I don't seem to think so.

If it doesn't need antifouling paint, what type of paint does it need?

Eric


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## Fstbttms (Feb 25, 2003)

Any boat that lives in the water should have anti fouling paint on the bottom. That's just proper boat maintenance. Trying cleaning one that doesn't sometime and you'll understand why.


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## timangiel (Sep 8, 2006)

If you are going to leave your boat in the water for 4 months, you are probably going to want antifouling. If you trailer your boat you can probably get away with out it.


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## junkmeister (Sep 20, 2007)

Thumbs - I use VC17 on my boat and it works well for our water. As I advised in another of your threads we sail in Long point bay out of Turkey Point Marina. Because the water gets so warm in the summer, the boot stripe turns nasty green very quickly. I just keep the boot stripe scrubbed whenever we anchor for swimming. The bottom because it has the VC17 antifouling doesn't gather any greenstuff. Last winter I scraped, and scraped, and scraped,then sanded down the bottom of my boat and checked for any blisters because it had many coats of old ugly anti-fouling on it. It had no blisters so I then sprayed on 5 coats of InterProtect barrier coat, then 3 coats of VC17. It survived the summer well.


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## DAW14126 (Aug 11, 2006)

*Antifouling paint*

We use it on our MN lake due to the warmer temps. the water reaches. However, a prior owner kept the boat on Lake Superior, very cold water, and never needed the paint.


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## bljones (Oct 13, 2008)

On Pittock, anti-foul it. You'll thank me in the fall.


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## CalebD (Jan 11, 2008)

People with Flying Scotts, Lightnings, Sonars etc. at our club who 'dry sail' their boats generally do not use anti-fouling paint. 'Dry sailing' means they pull the boat out of the water after each use. Even in our part of the Hudson (which is brackish to salty - tidal) we can get nasty barnacle growth that without anti-fouling paint would be a major headache. VC 17 seems to be the paint of choice for fresh water but we use an ablative paint that discourages barnacles.
Paint the bottom with VC 17 per directions on can. You will be glad you did.


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## travler37 (Mar 30, 2007)

Fstbttms said:


> Any boat that lives in the water should have anti fouling paint on the bottom. That's just proper boat maintenance. Trying cleaning one that doesn't sometime and you'll understand why.


 Did that for beer,
In the 70's as a high schooler made a good amount of realy cheap beer free diving and cleaning bottoms in Duluth/souptown harbor....Did prep work on a few to.Emron{sp} paint by dupont and probably spelled that wrong to.

Now i have ben out of the boat industry for a long while...and the paint industry for longer.......

You say"That's just proper boat maintenance" to put a antifouling pain on the botom.I ask if just a good paint and a few hours a month cleaning it yourself or paying a few beers and lunch is ok?Or have i ben out of the industry to long?
My Question
Mark


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## bljones (Oct 13, 2008)

What's your time worth?
In a freshwater lake with seasonal mooring, you don't have to deal with barnacles, but you still have to deal with algae and GAS (general aquatic scum). Best case, you have to scrub your hull regularly to get a couple more knots of performance. Worst case you haul your boat out at the end of the season and have discoloured gel coat and a hull that looks like don johnson's chin, and you have to spend a few hours scrubbing it down and hoping the murky green colour disappears as you scrub. Or spend a hundred bucks and a couple of hours on anti-fouling in the spring, and an hour or less pressure washing in the fall.

travler, something to think about- zebra mussels weren't an issue in the 70's, like they are now.


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## travler37 (Mar 30, 2007)

bljones said:


> What's your time worth?
> In a freshwater lake with seasonal mooring, you don't have to deal with barnacles, but you still have to deal with algae and GAS (general aquatic scum). Best case, you have to scrub your hull regularly to get a couple more knots of performance. Worst case you haul your boat out at the end of the season and have discoloured gel coat and a hull that looks like don johnson's chin, and you have to spend a few hours scrubbing it down and hoping the murky green colour disappears as you scrub. Or spend a hundred bucks and a couple of hours on anti-fouling in the spring, and an hour or less pressure washing in the fall.
> 
> travler, something to think about- zebra mussels weren't an issue in the 70's, like they are now.


 Time worth?
Yup...Proper maintence is about 6 hours a month with good paint doing it your self.25 to 30 ft boat as long as you keep with it.

Aprox $200 for antifouling paint/materials it you do it yourself. Plus a haulout and storage while it dries.

your choice
Mark


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## superiorvoyager (Jan 3, 2009)

I use antifouling paint on my boat as it came for the ocean but most people in my Marina don't. Here at he northern Tip of Lake superior Barnacles are not a problem and in the cold water prevents algae. The build up of Anti fouling on my boat over the past 25 years has caused a very rough bottom so I am going to have to grind/sand my bottom smooth. Others have no antifouling and when the pull the boats out in the fall they have no algae or scum. Of course our boats are in the water for only 4-6 months of the year and the water is just a little above freezing.


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## Fstbttms (Feb 25, 2003)

travler37 said:


> I ask if just a good paint and a few hours a month cleaning it yourself or paying a few beers and lunch is ok?Or have i ben out of the industry to long?


You got paid in beer *and* sandwiches? Jeez, I need to start asking for sandwiches!


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## CaptKermie (Nov 24, 2006)

*One these days....I will paint*

OK, here it is from someone who doesn't bottom paint!
I am located in the Pacific Northwest.
Yes I have a trailerable, but I slip during the summer months, some seasons are only 2 -3 months while other years can be 4 - 6 months (El Nino) when we get lucky.
I bought this great wax from Aurora Marine VS721 bottom wax, makes a real slick bottom, I still use it. Does it last... no, absolutely not. After about 4 weeks I have to haul the boat out and clean that bottom. It is a big ugly dirty sweaty job, on your back, lying on a creeper. I first take the electric 1600psi presure washer to it to get the surface crap off. Then it is on my back wheeling around on that creeper scraping the last remaining stubborn barnacles and those round sandollar like critters off. Then I use Fantastic with bleach to get the stains off, after that I wash it all nice and clean. Then I get out the Aurora boat scrub to clean it down to the gel coat. Now I start all over with the wax, 3 -4 coats, by the time I am done she's smooth as a babys bum and super slippery, speaking of which, the slippery bottom does make the cleaning a bit easier because the critters cannot grip as strongly to it. Anyway this process is time consumming, it takes me a couple days and it is a lot of elbow grease and grunt work, but I perservere. Once it is done I trailer it back to my slip and put her back in for another 4-5 weeks then repeat the whole process all over again. During shorter seasons I only have to do it a couple times, if I get lucky and have a longer sailing season, I do it 3-4 times. It is $hit work, believe me, I know, I do it enough times. I am a very slow learner, I have yet to use bottom paint, but that is another story. I am nearing my breaking point and am seriously considering the paint route. I have avoided it because I was also avoiding the epoxy barrier coat but if I cave in this year I will do the epoxy then the bottom paint so it will be a big job anyway. There appears to be no escape from the workload, either I do the paint work or scrub the bottom regularly, but those critters are not going to go away without the paint, and the paint will be at least bi-annual. I will still haul out at the end of September and moor in the driveway until April. The green slime will still get you, fresh, brackish or salt you still get a green beard, the salt just adds critters to the beard. The bottom growth really slows you down too, you should feel the difference when I finnish cleaning, she picks up a couple knots of speed every time. If you plan to slip for long periods, you either sweat it out on your back or bottom paint, make your choice!


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## AllThumbs (Jul 12, 2008)

Bottom paint it is. What's another $150.00.


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## CaptKermie (Nov 24, 2006)

*HiJacked*

How about this stuff?
Anyone have any experience or feedback or reviews about it?
Anti-fouling coating ship hull coating anti-stick coating marine coating corrosion preventative corrosion preventive anti-mold anti-mussel anti-zebra mussel coating


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