[Mr. Sandman]

likwid is right, shop Defender this weekend! They have some great prices.

I am glad to hear someone had good luck with aquaguard. I tried Eco friendly paints a few years ago (on top of some old hard paint) and it was, well, lets just say an ugly issue that pushed me over the edge to have the bottom blasted back to the gel-coat and start anew.

As for hard paint, I refuse to put a hard anti-fouling on the bottom anymore . Eventually you will have an ugly buildup and have to strip it off and that is a royal PIA. Last year I started with a bare glass, prepared it properly and did the whole 5 coats of epoxy barrier + 3 coats of ablative thing.... switched to Micron Extra (189/gal on sale this weekend usually 219) and it worked well. There was a little discoloring along the WL but it was otherwise clean. The bottom was itself very clean. I have to re-paint along the WL where there is some wear and touch up a few places but otherwise it looks good.

I spoke to a number of boatyard people and the interlux guy at a show last year and got a similar story...you pretty much get what you pay for with bottom paint. If you look at the back of the can and see how much of the active ingredients are in there you will see it is directly proportional to the price of the paint.

What I miss is a few years ago they made fantastic metal anti-foul but took it off the market. It was really effective but they took it off the market because of environmental concerns but replaced it with crap that really does not work nearly as well.


If I lived on the water and had a dock, I would have a lift put in and not put any paint on the bottom at all. You end up with no problems and the underwater gear stays like new, the environment stays cleaner to boot. The best bottom paint is no bottom paint. But that is not an option if you let her sit in the water.

That is just my 2 cents...if you found something that works for you: use it.