PDQ OWNERS FORUM

The VC17m we put on Banzai Makai is totally gone.. lasted less than 1 year travelling 2400 miles in warm salty water.

The last 2 months we have had to pay divers to clean the bottom every other week.

Pulled the boat Monday to repaint with Petit Trinidad SR (most recommended paint for Charleston SC waters).

The bottom was basically devoid of paint except around the water line. Several of the rubber clamshells that had been glued to the thru hulls were missing.(probably should have been screwed).

As an FYI.. VC 17m is not compatible with any other paint (from Interlux or anyone else) therefore we are having to sand the bottom and perform a "hard sand" around the waterline. This is going to remove some of the Interlux 2000 coat.

Therefore we are going to put 1 coat of I2000 over the bottom then 2 coats of Trinidad SR plus another coat 1 foot around the waterline.

In Charleston this is going to cost around $5K..potentially more if they run into problems sanding.

Hopefully we will get 3 seasons out of this investment.

I regret using the VC17m and cannot recommend it to anyone who runs their boat in warm salt water.

Interlux's website says this about VC 17m:

VC 17m is a thin-film antifouling containing Teflon® for use in freshwater and low fouling saltwater.

We use VC17m on Phenix, but it is a fresh-water boat. It is what many, many people up here use.

yes.. I know.. I should have read the web site BEFORE I paid the folks in Whitby to put it on the bottom of my "warm salt water bound" boat.

Just out of curiosity, which bottom paints have worked on other PDQ’s?
I had the APC 50 ablative paint out of the factory, and it lasted about 10 months (delivery trip, five months in Chesapeake, down the ICW and over to the Bahamas).
I now have Interlux Micron Extra applied. I only had 18 months in the water when I hauled the Feral Cat, but it was still in good shape with very little growth. Please give your inputs, as I will be due again next year.

We've been using Petit Trinidad on the Chesapeake, and now for 8 months in Florida. So far, so good. I can't make any promises, but it looks like it will at least make it through another half season.

The folks in the slips on both sides of mine both have the PETIT TRINIDAD SR and after 1 year each, neither of them have ANY growth .. just some slime.. they have not had to clean their bottoms and both expect the paint to last 2.5-3 years.

IN Charleston we have a 2 knot current running through the marina and the water temp is high 70's.

We are hoping to get close to 3 years out of the work being done above.

We just had our boat hauled to inspect the bottom after 15 months in the water. (Primarily in the Middle Chesapeake) Very happy to report no growth -- just slime which pressure washed off easily. The factory says we have Interprotect 2000 as an epoxy barrier coat and ACP 50 anti-fouling bottom paint by Pettit. They say this has been replaced by a new paint called Horizon.

Based on what I saw, I fully expect another full season at a minimum.