Anti fouling Boat Bottom Paint

Antifouling Boat Bottom Paint

I just read an article that compared anti-fouling bottom paint. The results were informative and some results were not what I had expected. 

What I did expect was that the paints that had copper/zinc paints did much better. Most of the “Green Bio-friendly” paints were not as good. I was surprised about how well they worked over time.

The test compared 25 brands of paint that had a price range of $85 to $225. As one would expect the low price paint did not work as well as the more expensive paint. The test compared how well they worked over time.

All the paints rated fair, good or excellent for 4 months. At 15 Months 14 of them rated poor and in these the paint price was in the full range of prices. At 26 months Copper Pro SCX 67 Hard, and Trinidad high copper hard were the only 2 rated good.

I was way confused by the time I finished the article. It had a lot of great information and I found that the comparison charts were nicely done. What I gleaned from it all was that all the paints worked and would be good for one season in the water. If you pulled your boat out each year you most likely would be OK with the protection from any of the bottom paints for that season. If you do not pull your boat our each year, the high copper paints will work much much better.

The price range of paints that gave “good” results was about the $180 range. From the charts that were in the article, I liked two of the Pettit’s paints for a “one season” bottom paint. Pettit’s Copper Guard Professional single season was priced at $110. It has copper in it. And Pettit’s Vivid Free, no copper, Aluminum-safe bright colors paint, and it is about $175. 

 I like the idea of echo friendly bottom paints. They will get better I am sure. If the bottom clean and prep time is increased when you pull the boat out to do a bottom job it may not be worth the use of the paints. For a one season paint, I would go with them, but not for a boat you will leave in for a longer time. The bio-friendly paints also did not do as well in the warmer Florida waters which is also a consideration. I do not think I would go with them at this time. There are a few low copper/with bio-boosters that may be the way to go, but they were in the high price range.