[RayNWanda]

Is anybody here familiar with this product? www.coppercoatusa.com

[Leo]

I have not used it but the feedback on it has been mixed. I think Practical Sailor is testing it in their annual bottom paint test.

[Maruska]

Ray,
Up here on the vast inland oceans known as the Great Lakes, VC 17 by Interlux is one of the most popular bottom coatings.  I should say on the American side of the lakes, as Canada prohibits application of bottom coatings by any type of spraying.

VC 17 is a two part coating, one being a teflon/acetone base and the second a bag of dry copper powder that you drop in and mix at the time of application.
VC 17 dries almost instantly. Still does a respectable job on growth in fresh water as far as I am concerned, and is super ablative.  I say still does a respectable job because 10 years ago it was a much better product.  Unfortunately like many of the items that works so well out there, the government gets involved and in the hope to make it more friendly to the environment screw it up.  We have found you have to put much more on every year to get the same results of a few quick coats of the older formula.  Only the government is this stupid.

I also mentioned super ablative.  What I mean here is the bow, leading edge of our keel and rudder will basically wear completely away in a one of our typical sailing seasons. I supose if we gave it another coat every year there would not be any wear thin. What that means is 3 racing series per season, 5 nights per series, 3 races per night.  So... a season for our J-22 is 45 starts plus a few practice nights and the occasional daysail. I look at this as a good thing as the bottom remains supper smooth for ever without a trace of build up. If you apply it to a shiny bottom the finish will telegraph that shine. Let me review, it will give you an excellent bottom.  If your boat was sanded with 100 grit you will see the sand swirls in the finish.  It is a thin coating.

The teflon in the stuff makes the bottom very slippery, and I do mean slippery.  So slippery that if you trailer a boat with VC 17 on its bottom, it is difficult to hold the boat in any one position as it will slide on its pads.  One must also observe additional care with jack stands.  Originally the race boats in our area wore VC 17 but now many of the cruisers coat with it as well.  The good performance, exceptional drag reduction and a continuous smooth bottom are hard to beat.

The real only acceptable method I have found to apply VC 17 is an airless sprayer.  I use a el-cheap-o Wagner unit. We cut it about 20% with acetone once mixed and spray.  You must spray it on within 8" or so or it will dry before it hits the bottom and dry fall.  I have tried rolling it on but one swipe is one coat, the reverse roll is a second and so forth.  A quart of paint also dries completely in the roller pan in about 3 to 5 minutes.  With the airless you shoot and launch.  We don't even clean the spray gun.  For 10 years I have just sloshed in some acetone in the cup, swirl it around, it dissolves itself and it is good to go.

Are there any negatives? Yup. No matter what colors they offer, within a week after launch it turns to an old penny color. If you trailer, the bottom can be almost dangerous to hit the brakes. You must recoat every season as it wears away. You can not put VC 17 over most typical existing bottom paint.
As far as cost, it sells for around $50 a quart. It takes 1 1/2 quarts to airless spray our J-22 for the season. You can uses what ever is left in the can the following year even if mixed so there is no waste.

Will it work in salt water?  I can't say for sure but I know they use it. That being said, does our P365 have a VC 17 bottom?  Nope! I did not want to respray that boat every year, however, after two seasons the ablative paint that I put on is not showing any sign of wear and that is making me very nervous. If I have to scrape that stuff off in a few years I will go the VC 17 route.

Good Sailing...   Dale

[RayNWanda]

 I'm finding some mixed feedback on it too. I have the Practical Sailor issues with the ongoing bottom paint test, now that you have jogged my memory. I'll check and see what the results are so far.
 I'm with you Dale, I don't want to repaint every year. It would be a major project to prep our boat for Coppercoat. There are several layers of paint that would have to be stripped. Then there is the cost- about 1040.00 for the paint. That's about what a haulout costs here, so if you are able to skip a haulout you break even. Anything after that you would be coming out ahead.
 I am also hearing about using low dollar bottom paint and mixing in two oz. of fine ground cayenne pepper per gallon. People are reporting good results, but the question is how long will it last.

[Jim S]

I use the West Marine brand onsale for about $90-$100/gallon.  I add a packet of tetracycline antibiotic (terramycin sold in feed stores) to each gallon.  I easily go two years without bottom growth.  Our marina has tidal flow but is brackish.  We periodically see a lot of zebra mussels but none have seen fit to attach to Phantom yet.