Announcement

**Reel Time** · 03-09-2007, 04:50 AM

You should order your zinc from the factory. It is a more substantial piece of metal for a much better price. I always order mine directly from CC.

Reel Time CC32

**Split Decision** · 03-09-2007, 11:56 AM

Steve

Last year I used Interlux because they were out of the Ultima. I only put on 1 coat and used 1 3/4 gal. This year I am going to sand the bottom smooth and thin it out and try to get away with 1 gal. 1 coat should be fine since it is a 3 year paint.

Make sure you get it smooth because last year I used a 3/8 nap roller and lost 2 kts in cruise speed.

**code blue** · 03-20-2007, 04:14 AM

Ultima Paint

Just a question and a suspicion. I am assuming ablative paint is much more resistant to water flow and thus would lower speed and decrease fuel effieciency. My problem is that my boat stays in the water 12 months a year thus it makes sense to me to use ablative to prevent any build up and rub the ablative paint away and replace when most removed. This way I have no build up of old paint. I somehow feel that the build up of old nonablative paint will counter the more abrasive restrictive properties of the ablative one. Any thoughts?????
Also I must give cudo's to the west marine ablative brand. Have had the boat hull in water since jul. 1 06 and still have I figure another 6-8 months of life. only build up is a bit of brown slime that is easily removeable with a towel. Of course the areas that are without paint(where sopports were) do have worms but they are easily scrubbed off as well. I dive the hull myself once a month. The biggest issue is with the props. Must scrape them as shark skin build up causes at least a 2 knot loss at same RPM. Tried painting them but big mistake, they actually stay cleaner with pure metal surface.

**Laukia** · 03-20-2007, 01:44 PM

bottom paint.....

I just had my bottom painted last week so I'll share some impressions. First off, Ultima SR is illegal to use in Calif (probably coming to a state near you). Too much copper content for state clean water regs. The yard manager said he faces a $10,000 fine if the paint is even found in the yard. So that was not an option. What was also interesting was that in over 180 bottom painting jobs he told me I was the first that had asked for an ablative paint. That surprised me but he said most recreational boaters just don't use their boats enough to have an ablative paint be effective. We used Seahawk brand, CuKote. I'll have to see how it holds up but supposedly it is widely used in Florida with good results.

Code Blue.....a tip on the props is to apply a coat of muriatic acid. It cleans that sharkskin film right off. They also showed me a boat in the yard that had applied an epoxy/resin like product to the props of a trawler. They said the diver that cleaned the boat had not touched the props in 16 months. They still felt pretty smooth. Supposedly also saw an increase in speed. But these were big props and they were talking about a 65 ft. sportfisher that had the increase in speed. It was pretty pricy. My boat was going to run about $400-$450 per prop and it had to be redone every time the bottom was redone. I passed.....but it is an option.

One other tip......if the boat is hauled out for any reason I strongly suggest you drop the screens over the raw water intake. That section under the screens is BARE GELCOAT. Sand it, apply primer/barrier coat and then a coat of bottom paint. I'm thinking that is the last place we would want a build up of fouling marine growth. Why the factory puts the screens on before the original bottom coat is probably another thread in itself.

Announcement

Ultima SR Paint

Ultima SR Paint

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment