BOTTOMS UP!

It's getting busier in the boatyard and roomier too as the boats begin to get launched. The smell of bottom paint starts filling the air. My boatyard's contract has a stipulation that only they can paint the bottom which as I get older seems like a better idea anyway. Though when thinking about bottom painting I get reminded of something I saw in Oyster Bay last fall. It was the test station for one of the manufacturers of marine bottom paints:

MORE ANTI FOULING SOLUTIONS

Bob who writes the BOAT BITS blog and I were amused that we happen to write about antifouling strategies on the same day. Bob has written before about an impulse purchase at a European boat show that turned out to be pretty effective in controlling growth on the boat bottom. He recently posted about finding a similar electronic system that costs less than half of what I have to pay the boatyard every year for a bottom painting on BIANKA. You can read about Bob's discovery and his very good description of how it works here at his Boat Bits blog. But, before you go and order the system one needs to read the fine print:

"Works with aluminium and fibreglass boats (not suitable for timber, ferro cement or fibreglass foam sandwich construction)"

If your boat meets the conditions for use. It might save you a lot of work when cleaning the bottom or dollars buying expensive antifouling paint. At the very least it's cheaper than a gallon of good bottom paint and might be worth a try. Some assembly required.

GOOD NEWS FOR BOAT BOTTOMS

It's getting a little cold these days to go and check the bottom of the boat. Some areas of the country like Washington State going after recreational boaters and preventing them from using copper based anti fouling paint. Why? Because they can. Meanwhile, they don't say boo to the commercial vessels in their waters. But there is some good news:

"Multi-seasonal barnacle (Balanus improvisus) protection achieved by trace amounts of a macrocyclic lactone (ivermectin) included in rosin-based coatings"

A research paper of the stuff can be found here. Even better news is that Ivermectin is already very available for boaters and anyone else that may want to make their own antifouling paint. More states may follow with the copper ban. But, if they come for my Gam Pro 6 in 1 Paint Scraper they will have to pry it out of my (hopefully not dead) hands.