Two kinds of bottom paint
Antifouling paint keeps growth off by slowly releasing a biocide, most often copper. There are two main kinds. Ablative paint wears away a thin layer at a time, like a bar of soap, and keeps exposing fresh biocide. Hard paint stays on the hull, and the biocide slowly leaches out of it.
Ablative paint works best on boats that move — the water flow helps it wear evenly. Hard paint is tougher, but once the biocide is gone, growth sticks to it even though the paint still looks fine.
What wears it out
Time in warm water is the main factor: the paint never gets a break from growth in South Florida. Then how much the boat runs, how often it’s cleaned and with what. Hard scraping and pressure washing take paint off with the growth.
How cleaning affects the paint
Cleaned every month, the hull carries only slime and light growth, and a soft tool is enough. Left for months, the same hull grows barnacles and oysters, and they have to be scraped — and scraping takes paint with them.
That’s why, on worn paint, we don’t promise to take off every barnacle base: scraping can strip the paint that’s left. We would rather show you the hull on video and let you decide.
Signs it’s time to repaint
Growth comes back within days or a couple of weeks after a cleaning. Bare spots, primer or gelcoat show through. Barnacles settle on paint that was clean a month ago. Or the paint is simply over two years old.
Cleaning a hull with old paint
We clean it at the same per-foot price. If the paint no longer works and the job turns out bigger than expected, we send you video first and agree on the price before we go on. Repainting itself needs a haul-out at a boatyard — we work in the water, so we don’t paint, but our video tells you when it’s time.