Foul language
Getting the boat painted for the spring is just one of those jobs you have to get on with. Whether it’s you or the local boatyard ducking into overalls, gloves, masks and goggles, it is often tempting to simply use the same stuff as last year. After all, if the hull came out clean in the autumn, why change?
Well, legislation doesn’t stand still, and neither do the R&D departments of the world’s paint manufacturers, which means products are always evolving. Here we highlight some of the latest hull and topside treatments, as well as offering a quick guide to the other coatings are available.
As with everything in boating, you can pay bottom dollar for a simple rosin-based paint which quickly rubs off and provides less protection. The next step up is a longer-lasting resin-based paint which doesn’t wear away so fast, and the pinnacle is a jazzy self-polishing paint, which generates a constant amount of biocide through a chemical reaction with the water by the hull.
“I always say, the first thing a boatowner should do is sit down and work out how often they’re going to use their boat,” says Jamie Smith of Marine Ware,
