TruDesign Specialists Discuss the Best Antifouling Paint Solution For You

Your TruDesign Experts Know Great Antifouling Paint Is Vital for Peak Performance 

Raritan Engineering Company your TruDesign professionals would like to share with you these topics we thought would be of interest to you this month regarding the best antifouling paint solution for you.

Your TruDesign analysts know that if your boat stays in the water at least part of the year, good antifouling paint is critical for keeping it performing its best, and for reducing fuel costs. Most boaters find bottom painting messy and tedious, but it's one of the key preventative maintenance jobs that keep your boat in shape. 

Antifouling paint keeps marine organisms, taking the forms of shell (animal fouling from barnacles and zebra mussels), weed (plant growth) and slime (single-celled algae) from attaching themselves to your boat. 

Choosing an antifouling paint is regional, as boaters in the Great Lakes, Pacific Coast, Southeast, Gulf Coast and other regions tend to choose similarly to their neighbors in the local marina. 

Do you want bright colors?

Use paint with copper thiocyanate, zinc or ECONEA biocide. White copper (cuprous thiocyanate) is clean white in color and used in Pettit's Vivid and Interlux Trilux 33. It requires 50% less content than the heavy, dark copper used in conventional antifouling paint. 

Are you in an area that restricts copper biocides?

Use a paint with zinc or ECONEA biocides.

Go to http://raritaneng.com/category-pages/trudesign-products/ and see how you can find more information as well as get assistance on TruDesign and on the best antifouling paint solution for you at Raritan Engineering.

Non-biocide paints-foul release coatings: Biocide-free foul release coatings are just beginning to be available to recreational boaters, used on propellers in products like the popular PropSpeed. 

Do you want to haul out over the winter and relaunch without repainting?

Use copolymer ablative type paint. Copolymer paints release biocide at a constant controlled rate throughout their lives, wearing away or “ablating” much like a bar of soap. Paint wears off faster in higher drag areas on the hull and appendages.

We recommend a covering of two or three coats on the first application. Copolymer paints with anti-slime additives are best for heavy fouling areas. Environmentally preferable: CFA Eco, Ultima ECO and Pacifica Plus are ECONEA-based copolymer ablatives.

Are you going to be using a vinyl-based paint?

Make sure you remove the old paint film unless it's also vinyl based.

Are you in saltwater or freshwater?

There are specific paints that are recommended for freshwater, and some paints that are specifically recommended against freshwater use.

Do you use your boat often or infrequently?

Frequently used boats may want to use an ablative paint, which will get smoother over time and will shed light growth. Infrequently used boats may want to use a modified epoxy paint that will have good antifouling properties when the boat is inactive.

If you keep your boat in the water year round you are most likely a candidate for a high-copper-content modified epoxy paint that prevents growth by leaching biocides upon contact with water. Contact leaching paint releases the biocide at a steadily decreasing rate, leaving the hard coating of the original thickness at season's end.

Are you painting over old paint?

Three general rules:

• Make sure the old paint is firmly attached. Don't put good paint over loose, flaky paint.


• Don't apply paint over old paint that contains a slippery Vinyl or Teflon agent


• Don't apply a hard paint over a soft paint.

Help for the Do-It-Yourself Painter

For more information on for the do-it-yourself boat owner on how to prep your boat's bottom and apply antifouling paint, see our West Advisor and companion video called Do-It-Yourself: Bottom Painting.

So don't forget these helpful reminders before buying your antifouling paint solution. 1) Do you want bright colors?;  2) are you in an area that restricts copper biocides?;  and 3) are you painting over old paint?

Click here and see how Raritan Engineering has more information on TruDesign and on the best antifouling paint solution for you.

via Top Ten Antifouling Paint Buying Questions