I'm on the northern Chesapeake (Worton Creek) so I know what you're talking about. I've actually painted the 1" strip between the bottom paint and the boot stripe with shark white bottom paint; doesn't look so great on the hard but unless you're swimming alongside the boat, you can't tell once it's in the water.

Then there is the 'mustache' above the water line at the bow. I've found that a couple extra coats of wax there helps prevent it (I use Trewax). It seems to fade over the winter, but I have had to resort to FSR once or twice; it encourages me to put on another coat of wax.

Bruce,
MaryKate On & Off cleaner. Very caustic stuff. Wear gloves, eyewear, and clothes you don't mind throwing out. After you brush (or spray) some on the area, let it sit for a few minutes, brush or sponge around, then rinse with LOTS of fresh water, the waterline will be sparkling clean again. Runoff might slightly streak the bottom paint, but that will only last until you launch again in the spring.

The brown stain "mustache" comes off easily with muriatic acid. it's cheap and available in hardward stores or swimming pool supply stores. I wrap a rag around a sponge mop and put the acid in a plastic bucket. Obviously good to wear rubber gloves. Stay upwind. I've used this with the boat afloat in 5' of water. Makes rinsing easy. Probably the active ingredient in the above mentioned Mary Kate Off and On cleaner.

Tom Smith
Molly Malone
1994 Mk 1.5

The On-Off stuff works great, and it is muriatic acid, but
"green marinas" (of which we have a number on the Jersey shore) don't really care for it.

The only problem with using it afloat is it takes of the wax too and its really hard to reapply wax when the boat is floating.

I've been using Interlux Fiberglass Bottomkote since; well since it was new. I use just a light coat every year, about a gallon; I've found it didn't make a difference when I used twice that much, and it has kept it from building up. Never had a barnacle. Always have slime. But [I]every boat[/I] I've ever seen hauled at my marina has slime. We're in fresh/brackish water, maybe it would be different further south in the Bay. The marina offers a mid-season quick haul and wash, and I usually have that done in mid-late August. I get hauled for the winter, so I've never gone more than a single season.

[QUOTE=catalinapilot;11081]
I'll also ask if anyone has had any really good luck with ablative bottom paint. We got 1.2 seasons out of the WM CPP and the slime was something to behold - Irgarol slime fighter did nothing. In fact, I think the stuff thrived on it. It was so bad this season that the seacocks were actually clogged.
[/QUOTE]
Applied 2 gallons of West PCA Gold ablative last spring - 1 coat overall, and used up the 2nd gallon with a 2nd coat at the waterline area. We did essentially no bottom cleaning all season, and when we hauled in November it had only a light coating of slime that washed off easily.
We're home-ported on the east end of Long Island.
As they say, your mileage may vary.