MacGregorSailors.com

I had my boat bottom painted professionally about 5 months ago. She's been sitting in a slip for about 3 months straight, granted with plenty of use but no haul-out. I noticed that there is a lot of grime building up along the stern. The sounder transducer which was painted with special transducer paint is covered with hairy green stuff every time. I brush it off but it will be covered with growth within 2 days. There is also growth all around the ballast valve. The rest of the transom is slimy-grimy but no hair growing. Can't see any growth around the hull, but I lay down on the dock and put my hand under the hull and it felt slimy. My fingers had brownish-gren crap on them. Is this normal or did I get a bad bottom job? Don't know if the paint is supposed to block slime as well as hairy-type growth or just the latter. They used Micron ablative paint which is designed to work in salt & fresh water as well as be able to be hauled out. Any advice would be much appreciated. I didn't have a good experience with this boat yard, so would like to get an idea whether I have a ligitimate problem before calling them. Thanks.

Leon

Wow. Can't recall ever placing a post with no replies. Someone, please help.

Everything you want to know at YachtPaint.com.

You can get bottom paint with or without slime block (Igarol I believe is their trade name).

We have their paint with the slime block, yet we get about a 1/4" of brownish-looking, jelly-like sludge over the season that comes off fairly easily where it's on the bottom paint. Where the water splashes up above the bottom paint, the sludge dries to an almost impossible to remove hard substance.

This is in fresh water. How that translates to your area, I don't know but it sounds like you got a good paint job... especially if you aren't getting barnacles!

I also had Micron with slime protection installed and it did the same thing in fresh water in three months of summer weather here in TX. Apparently regular, read once per week, brushing with a soft brush or sponge is necessary to keep all stuff off, but it also removes paint, which as you know is very expensive. I made a special brush on a stick to get to the transducer paddle wheel and the ballast tank valve interior. This and the cost of rentals going up made me decide not to keep it in the water anymore. I'm on a very limited income and can't afford to keep shelling out the dough for bottom jobs. Since storing on a trailer is now my plan, my next job will be a super slick, hard paint with no antifouling at all. And probably a topside paint, not a bottom paint for a huge savings in cost.

Moe, Nightsailor,
Thank you. I feel better now. Don't know if I have slime protection, but from what you're both saying, it doesn't really work. I guess this is why several guys at the marina pay a diver once per week to clean the bottom. Won't go that route since I'll be hauling out every few months or whenever trailing to different grounds and can wash down then.

Fair winds,
Leon

I will begin sanding this weekend. I going to preety mush live with the pimples that formed on my hull. I figured that I will sand it just enough to burst the pimples. Let tthe boat sit in the marina barn for a week, and apply the first coat easyepoxy, let that dry until tacky, and apply the antifouling paint fist coat, once that has almost dried I will apply the final coat on antifouling paint. My goal is to maintain my boat's water proof interier. Is there any other concerns. I need to consider. This is my boat, and I have no plans on selling it for about 10 years or more.

Slime will grow anywhere there is light shining near the surface no matter bottom paint or not. I have bottom paint on our M it came with it and this winter we had some slime growing even with some ice in the fresh water. Last year we put in and sailed for a week in Puget Sound and 2 or 3 barnacles had started to attach just above the bottom paint but they flicked off with my finger. Our boat probably sails slower but I don't have to worry about growth. I found that multi purpose Windex (yellow) takes all the dried growth off with a plastic kitchen scrubber once it is on the trailer.