Does bottom paint go bad?

[s/v Faith]

I have a line on 2 gallons of Pettit Horizons bottom paint for a real good price. The paint is about 5 years old.

IIRC, bottom paint is ok as long as it has not frozen.... any way to tell? Any one know for certain?

I tried calling Pettit, and so far they have not gotten back to me. They are closed for the day, and I am supposed to meet the guy tomorrow.... thinking I will pass unless anyone has an answer here.

[Hirilondë]

Latex paints are seriously effected by freezing. Many are completely destroyed. I don't know of any solvent based paints that are. Horizons uses copper and a biocide that are not effected by time. If the paint is not dried out, then it is probably just fine. Tell the seller you want to open, stir and check out the paint before buying. If it mixes to a nice semi-peanut butter consistency it should be fine. Usually the worst thing about old solvent based paint is that it has seperated a lot and takes a long time to mix. If the seller won't let you check it out then I would be skeptical on general principal

[s/v Faith]

Well,

I went to pick up the paint this afternoon. The cans were a little rusty, but looked ok. I opened one, and there was nothing like 'cottage cheese' in it so I paid for them and took them to my friend at the paint store.

He warned me that the shaker would generate heat in the paint (apparently the high metallic content makes lots of friction). He put a stir in before shaking, and found 4" of solids at the bottom of the cans. After a couple tries he got them balanced in the shaker. He double bagged them in case of a blow out... the Benjamen Moore heavy duty paint shaker was up to the task.

The 3/4 gallon of Easypoxy (1 part poly) shook out fine, not sure what I will use it for since it is black.... but it was thrown in with the rest so I guess it is good.

He shook the bottom paint for about 5 minutes, when it came out one of the cans had blown it's seam on the bottom... not much paint had come out. The other can was opened and it looks good. There is still about 1/2" of stuff on the bottom that needs to be mixed in but I think I can do that with a drill operated paddle (like I normally do with bottom paint).

It did not smell bad, and I think it will be fine. Will update when I haul out and do the bottom. Thanks for the input.