Bottom Paint

Talk to your diver.
Talk to your neighbor.
Find boats that are similar in use.
Walk the DIY yards and talk to the owners doing their own bottom.

Thru the years, I have found it difficult to get honest responses from the yards or retail outlets.
I'm sure some were honest and sincere but with so many different answers, it is hard to use responses from these outlets.

On our 58, many coats of ablative and diver service kept our bottom always ready.
2 and 3 years between quick bottom jobs.
We have been cheating these last 2+ years in fresh water, our bottom was clear and 3 years old when we came up river.

There are non metallic paints for the pods. A call to Volvo and your divers experience may help here also.

From 2021...
https://www.yachtforums.com/threads/prop-speed-vs-bottom-paint-on-pods.34298/

From 2017...
https://www.yachtforums.com/threads/best-bottom-paint.27378/

From 2016...
https://www.yachtforums.com/threads/hard-or-ablative-bottom-paint.26547/

From 2014...
https://www.yachtforums.com/threads/best-bottom-paint-for-southern-boats.23812/

From 2011...
https://www.yachtforums.com/threads/whats-everyones-favorite-bottom-paint.17177/

From 2005...
https://www.yachtforums.com/threads/bottom-paint-suggestions.3286/


There are many more related discussions, just click Search on YFs navbar.

We have kept our boat in southwest Florida for the last 5 years. It is a 50 foot express cruiser without pods. When the boat got to Florida we had a complete bottom strip done. They used Pettit Protect for the primer coats (I believe it was 2 coats). The bottom was completed with Pettit Vivid, our diver looks at the bottom of our boat every 3-4 depending on the water temp. He told us in January that we should think about getting the bottom freshened up. So we had the boat hauled out and the yard said it looked good, so all they were going to do is power wash the bottom and reapply the Vivid and we'd be good for another 3 years. Hope this helps.

You may find some favorites in there. Some discontinued, some new since.
Carl did the hard work.
I recommend going thru theses post well, Find some more as pointed out, find a few of the best matching your area, needs and still available.
Then review post #2 including asking about your finds from YFs past postings.

One last points, the most expensive does not mean the best.
I have never witnessed any snake oil additive to be beneficial.

Lots of homework;
Fill us in on your decision. keep us up on how it holds up.
Many post here are updated years later.