ePaint EP-ZO

[Bluenose]

I have been using ePaint products for the last 4 or 5 years and have generally been pretty happy with them. Occasionally I have been asked about my experiences with their products and haven't been able to provide much useful info since my sailing seasons has often been variable and short.

But this was a full season for Bolero using ePaint's EP-ZO white bottom paint. We launch on May 6th and hauled out on October 24th.

The short summary is that this is the worst looking bottom paint during haul out that I have had seen since I started been using ePaint.

Here is the condition of Bolero's bottom paint before launching.



And here are the unwashed photos during haul out.











This brown slime washed off quickly and easily without much effort.



And a small detour off topic to show the light of the day results of my Yellow Island reef exploration.





I have to confess that I had hoped for better results from a full season with ePaint. I do know that there are a couple of caveats for this season. ePaint is a pretty thin paint and I find it hard to get a good coverage. In addition each season Bolero seems to get not quite enough bottom paint to cover and form a thick base.

That said, I am committed to continuing with this product. First I drawn to the idea of trying to use a more benign bottom paint and I also quite like having a white bottom.

I hope this provides some useful info for anyone who has been curious about ePaint.

Cheers,
Bill

[Tim]

I don't think the growth looks bad at all--no worse than you see with any traditional copper-based paint.

Considering the length of your season, and the fact that the slime you see tends to magically appear in great quantities only during the final weeks of the season (assuming your conditions are similar to what we see here, which I think they are), that small amount of slime is nothing to worry about. It seems to me that your paint is working at least as well as other types--none of which work that well anymore, frankly.

[Figment]

I'm with Tim on this one, that looks just fine. Nothing a scotchbrite pad wouldn't polish up.
How is is that you had no hard growth on your exposed-due-to-grounding areas?

My cute little Haulout Day Surprise was that pressure washing of any kind is no longer permitted, so I had to attack my barnacle buddies the old-fashioned way. They did not easily release their foothold on my exposed-due-to-grounding spot.

[Bluenose]

I don't think the growth looks bad at all--no worse than you see with any traditional copper-based paint.

Considering the length of your season, and the fact that the slime you see tends to magically appear in great quantities only during the final weeks of the season (assuming your conditions are similar to what we see here, which I think they are), that small amount of slime is nothing to worry about. It seems to me that your paint is working at least as well as other types--none of which work that well anymore, frankly.

Funny, now that you mentioned it the bottom did seem clean through September. But I also have this suspicion, or superstition, that the best bottom paint is sailing briskly and often. And my sailing tapered way off during September and October.

How is is that you had no hard growth on your exposed-due-to-grounding areas?

Figment, I can only imagine that those little critters looked at the carnage and figured that they sure didn't want to be between our keel and a potential rock. I think I scared em off.

[Hirilondë]

I know that with ablative paints how much you sail your boat has a lot to do with growth accumulating or not. I would think this is true to some extent with all paints. I don't think there is any product that can prevent slime altogether, no legal product at least.

I had the worst year ever with barnacles on my outboard. Trilux seems to have done absolutely nothing at all to inhibit them. My bottom is Micron Extra, and I didn't even touch it up from last year and my slime was about the same as Bolero's. I did however clean the top foot or so a couple times over the season with a long handle brush from my dinghy.

[Bluenose]

In an attempt to research this vague relationship between the amount of sailing and the buildup of slime, I will commite myself to sailing even more next year than we did this year.

The sacrifices we make for the pursuit of the sciences.

Cheers, Bill

[rbgarr]

I also like the white bottom paint on my Shields. Over ten years I've used Awlgrip's Awlstar (best, but no longer available), Pettit's Vivid White, and now the Vivid Free (least effective, but tried because I was able to get a discounted gallon). In each case the boat has been on a mooring in Maine from late April/early May until October. From what I see in the photos each of them performed better than the ePaint, but maybe Maine waters are colder than the PNW?