Speed coatings and growth prohibiting Bottom paints

RichBKK

Seaman Apprentice
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Jan 20, 2011
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41
Wondering if anyone has tried applying any of the Wearlon Marine paints and / or speed products to their hull..?? Living in S.W. Florida on the saltwaterwater, barnacles, slime and growth is a way of life.. I'm looking at all options on the market to prohibit growth and the Wearlon Marine products have caught my eye.. A super slippery, speedy bottom would also increase gas mileage and less wear and tear on the engine..

Anyone tried their products or any similar ones..??
 

Bob_VT

Moderator & Unofficial iBoats Historian
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Re: Speed coatings and growth prohibiting Bottom paints

Wondering if anyone has tried applying any of the Wearlon Marine paints and / or speed products to their hull..?? Living in S.W. Florida on the saltwaterwater, barnacles, slime and growth is a way of life.. I'm looking at all options on the market to prohibit growth and the Wearlon Marine products have caught my eye.. A super slippery, speedy bottom would also increase gas mileage and less wear and tear on the engine..

Anyone tried their products or any similar ones..??


Unless you are racing - you will not experience any gains from installing some speed coatings. Those coatings wear the fastest and are often re-applied following every race event.

You will not save any gas money or see any mileage improvements that offset the investment in the bottom paint. If you have your boat at a marina and it remains in the water long enough for stuff to adhere and grow...... ask around and see what other's are using. Bottom paint/coatings are not cheap.
 

RichBKK

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Jan 20, 2011
Messages
41
Re: Speed coatings and growth prohibiting Bottom paints

Thank you for your reply.. But wait, check out their 3 marine products before lumping "all" speed coatings together..

The company (Wearlon) also produces a "growth-inhibiting bottom paint/speed coating".. They state their Marine products contains silicone that increases speed, better gas milage, less wear on your engine and "eco-friendly ingrediences" that probits zebra mollusks, barnacles, algae, slime, etc.. Said to be a "hard wearing / long lasting paint" as well..

They're at least 1/3rd less than the cost of the usual "growth-prohibiting bottom paint" manufacturers (per gallon)..

I've found their site and the track record of their products very eye opening.. I'm just looking to see if any others have tried their product 1st hand and how they performed in warm, semi-tropical, saltwater areas such as S.W. Florida..
 

Bob_VT

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Re: Speed coatings and growth prohibiting Bottom paints

Sorry but I see through many advertising claims and those coatings have been around for over 20 years. Once again.....it is a race coating and if it was that "top of the line" new boats would come equipped with it already applied. So, how many lifetimes will it take me to re-coup my investment on fuel savings - I doubt I would live that long and the savings would not be as significant as good throttle control.

They are from my neck of the woods and it is not popular around here. I guess it would depend on what type of boat, how stored and what works for your area.
 

RichBKK

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Jan 20, 2011
Messages
41
Re: Speed coatings and growth prohibiting Bottom paints

I still gotta come back at ya, Supreme Commander..

Have you taken a look at their website..?? They started out hard core "industrial".. Big boy stuff--- like bridge building, stretch forming of aluminum for the aircraft industry (read: Boeing), water injection pumps, industry coatings for transporting crude oil, coatings for the insides of grain and cement silos, waste and water treatment plants, hydro plants to reduce rust deterioration and zebra mussel build up, etc., etc..

Evidently, they've "branched out" and gone into the Marine bottom coatings for both speed, as well as, growth-inhibiting coatings.. Their speed coatings are well know and used by multiple world champion hydroplane racers and
world record holders.. Growth prohibing..?? Their site claims, "Barnacles are readily removed by periodic brushing of the surfaces coated with Wearlon Super F-3M.. Presently, barnacle and salt water bio-fouling resistance are under intense study at Battelle Laboratory and Florida Institute of Technology"..

Price-wise, their product is coming in at least 1/3rd the price less, (per gallon), than all the other well known and highly market "name" brands seen in all the boating, sailing and fishing magazines and advertisings.. According to Practicle Sailor here in Sarasota, all of the "name" manufacturers bottom paints last 9 to 18 months, at best, on an average.. (maybe 1 or 2 went to "kinda", 24 months.. but that's a huge stretch)..

Concerning "Top of the Line" boats coming "off the assembly line" with Wearlon's speed / growth-probibiting coatings / paints applied..?? Name one boat manufacturer that produces boats with any coating / growth-prohibiting paint applied to her hull as she rolls off the assembly line.. None.. (but please, correct me if I'm wrong).. So that's a pretty uneducated "claim and statement" on your part..

With the Gulf temperature here in S.W. Florida hovering around 84 to 87 degrees, 7 days of your boat sitting at the dock and you have barnacles.. Any vessel owner that truly loves and cares for their boat, yaht, sailing vessel, offshore fisherman, professional fishing guide, etc. has a diver "hand cleaning" their bottoms every 14 days, max----not the "once a month " or "once a season " cleaning that you read about up north.. When my little boat is at the dock, at least once a week during the summer, I'm pulling over at a sandbar or beach to wipe down the bottom.. The barnacles, algae and slime grows faster here than elephant grass in S.E.Asia..

For a land-locked state, Vermont has it's rivers and a few lakes but, your boating on freshwater and your "season" and "lifetime" there is 3, maybe 4 months a year..?? (well, ice fishing in sub zero weather, that's not boating though)..

We're the sub-tropics here.. Boating 365 a year.. Any product to slow down the round-the-clock growth and increase mileage, lessen wear and tear on my engine and cost $85 to $100 less per gallon than the "name" manufacturers----- I'm "looking twice and asking around about it"..
 
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