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I'd consider going bare. My neighbour doesn't bother with bottom paint. He beaches his boat and scrubs the bottom every few months. Kind of tricky for larger boats as you can typically only access one side of the hull of a beached boat at a time. In other news Hempel now sells an antifouling for alu...

Kevin and other Al boat building experts: Would it be feasible to salvage this valuable hull by "strip planking" a new skin over the old plating in the corroded area below the waterline? Given that the structural framework is like unaffected by the pitting that occurred to the plating, cou...

Seajet's silicone based paint is called Bioclean Eco - See article testing antifouling paints in Practical Boat Owner: Antifouling Paint Trials
 

Has anyone experience with Seajet's products for aluminum antifouling?  They have copper free paints 034 Emperor and 027 Saiko.  I believe that some of their paints are Silicone based super slippery paint. Looking for an alternative to Trilux since International has stopped shipping it to Canada (le...

I don't think Trilux II was banned in Canada, I've been told that Interlux decided to stop making it specially for the Canadian Market since the market is so small. They still make Trilux 33 for sale in the USA which is the same copper thiocyante paint but with a slime fighting biocide that is banne...

As a geo type I don' think that rock wool is a good companion to have next to aluminum, especially with salts and water around. Many of the minerals in rock react with water or the carbon dioxide in the air and produce acids, caustic solutions. Rock wool, although relatively free draining will still...

Hi Rich If you do decide to scrap it I know a guy living on Gambier Island that would be very happy to take it for scrap value and bang it out. He lives a rural lifestyle but goes to Horseshoe Bay for groceries in his battered 8 foot Davidson look alike even in the winter (if you know Howe Sound's w...

Ahh - what a shame - Those are nice boats tough little boats. We have one too that I've done a few repairs on. We left it on a preserved wood dock for several winters and the keel corroded out - ripped some Al tubing in half and used 5200 to glue the half tube into the inside of the keel - worked pe...

Interesting review of antifouling technologies by the Canadian Navy: https://cradpdf.drdc-rddc.gc.ca/PDFS/unc358/p812960_A1b.pdf Sadly according to a search I did on approved antifouling paints in Canada, the only approved paint (other than ablatives) registered for use in Canada is Trilux II (not T...

Thanks Chaps - As usual an information packed comment! Plastic hinged, aluminum tabs - what a great idea. Sounds like you have been following developments in aluminum friendly antifouling closely. Hope that the recent advances in antifouling paint continue as this is the main issue with keeping alum...

Looks likely that the exposed dis-similar metal of the stainless trim tab is the culprit. I added a stainless cavitation plate to an outdrive to replace a broken off aluminum one. The entire outdrive disintegrated within the year, it was pretty old though. I would consider trying to isolate the trim...

Given that it's EPA approved and copper free there was no problem getting it. I've never seen it stocked in Canada yet, but Canadian Tire sells other Aquaguard bottom paints. I think that Aquaguard and Flexdel are the same company. Just probably takes time for new products to work through the distri...

Thanks to the modern-day miracle of Fedex a gallon of Flexdel Armor arrived and as a result of the liberal offering of money to the right person became firmly attached to our Ironwood in the form of two coats of blue atop several coats of primacon and some kind of zinc conversion first coat. Apparen...

Glad business is brisk Chaps. Sounds like you have a hybrid Al-epoxy hull! Found a distributor that ships Flexdel Armor coat to Canada so I'm going to give that a try too. We are taking the Trilux off by sanding, exposing the multiple primacoat / epoxy phases of primer on the way down to metal, doin...

Hi Chaps Thanks again with your experience and thoughts on these paints. Al boats save the environment by using way less fuel - but we need proper bottom paint! Haven't seen Flexdel Armor up here yet but maybe West Marine will bring it in. Once I finish our cabin build I'm onto a proper dock crane b...

Thanks Mssr. Tucker

No Pettit up here in Canada, not sure if I could even bring it back across the line, probably not due to our "approval" systems here.

Same re hauling boat the other way for and getting Chaps to do an excellent job.

Cheers from up here.

Has anyone used Epaint's Sunwave Bottom Paint on an alloy hull? This is a water based epoxy, hard finish but ablative release paint with their photo-active (zinc omide?) formulation. Sounds like it does not have a biocide so something like their EP-2000 or ZO-HP might be better for a wet moored hull...

One last mention re interior painting - yes! Zolatone is nice and makes the interior feel spacious and finished. Just don't paint your instrument panel and dash in white or light coloured paint tones, or all you will see are reflections of those on the windshield .....same with dash lighting, on a &...

Glare is a non-issue. The only paint we have on our 19' Ironwood (apart from the bottom) is an area of grey-non skid (awlgrip?) on the bow and in strips along the side decks. In the cockpit we have a huge tough 4' by 6' black neoprene mat (1" thick stiff foamed neoprene cow mattress from a feed...

Kellahan put extended chine spray rails on their 19' models for quite a few years. Some of them were quite "aggressive" (extending out several inches) to the point that you could trip on a chine in a sharp turn or if cutting a wave at an angle. We test drove a Kellahan with one of these he...

We have a 14' welded Gregor that we used to construct a concrete dock on a steep rocky shore. The technique we used to get the rebar and readymix sacks onto the rocks was to run the bow onto the rocks (Gregors have a good skid plate) and add power so the nose stuck to the rocks and pivoted while the...

It doesn't really matter too much in the case of a simple electrical setup like a small O/B on a skiff. The important more general point is that if there is a ground to the hull it should really just be at one point, otherwise there may be current flowing through the hull which can lead to corrosion...

Good pic Chaps and good advice not to worry about a wee bit of steel!

What kind of paint is that soft ablative? So far the only Al compatible antifouling in Canada is Trilux II or Trilux II.

Those little LED replacements for incandescents can generate quite a buzz on the radio. I cut the lead to the LED from the driver board inside the socket plug in and slipped some small ferrite bead chokes over the wires - Presto, no buzz on the radio.

Last year I bought a Marytr Mini Divers Dream zinc with an aluminum bolting plate embedded in the zinc anode. This year they seem to have only the mild steel bolting plate version. The aluminum plate seemed like a really good idea as there was no dis-similar metal contact on the all important anode ...