I use Pettit Trinidad SR (hard). I am very satisfied with it. The first few times the paint went on blue, but my last coat was black - hoping that I can better judge the wear over time. If I see any blue when I next haul then I know that my last black layer didn't last as long as I expected it to.

We're on our fourth season of Trinidad SR, just now needing a new 1 1/2 coats. Good stuff.

[QUOTE=LCBrandt;5861]I use Pettit Trinidad SR (hard). I am very satisfied with it. The first few times the paint went on blue, but my last coat was black - hoping that I can better judge the wear over time. If I see any blue when I next haul then I know that my last black layer didn't last as long as I expected it to.[/QUOTE]

Larry,

I'll be interested in your feelings about black after it's been on a while. I alternate between blue and red for the same reason, but the one time I used black, it drove me crazy because it makes it hard to see scum.

BTW, I use Fiberglass Bottomkote and get two years with no problem. I also wipe the bottom and rudder to keep scum to a minimum.

Bruce

Bruce, my black bottom paint will be three years old, if I remember correctly, next February or March. (It was a winter boat show special.) I am not a racer, so I'm not anal when it comes to a perfectly clean hull; but as a cruiser, I have found the paint to be very satisfactory. In the Columbia River, the fur grows on it, but after 10 miles or so it sloughs off to my satisfaction. (The paint doesn't slough...the weed does.) In salt water, a different fur grows, but that also sloughs off readily. So far, I have seen not a trace of blue showing through, and there is at least 2000 nm on that bottom since painted.

This summer the boat is based at Bremerton, and I have had only rare opportunities to get on it because of a utility room remodel that has been all-consuming. Each time I go to Bremerton I have to clean the knotmeter wheel because of all the critters living in it...that gives you a sense of what kind of growth there is in that fecund place. Could it be decades of shipyard toxins that are causing mutant sealife there?

I am planning to haul and repaint, again in black, on a boat show special early next year.

On of our members sailed to Mexico. He had black on his bottom. He reports that he would not do it again. Why? Seems to attract whales. Fun the first time, but not when they think you're one of 'em! ;)

High Flight is a veritable whale magnet already, and from before the black paint. We see whales every major trip up here.