Smooth Sailing™ Paints Durall Marine Products is focused on keeping your boat bottom clean while reducing drag. As a result, our product line is streamlined with three choices of non-stick bottom coatings, and one high build, non-slip topside coating. Purchase any product below for $39.98 per quart FOB. Call toll free 800-466-8910 with credit card and ship-to address. Calls are taken for orders and application assistance 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

A handy application kit costs $7.98 and includes a 6-inch foam roller, tray, and sanding sponge.

Here are some instructions and photos showing the process of applying our urethane teflon antifouling paint to a canoe. The same process applies to boats of all kinds.

Advantages of a Smooth Sailing coat on your boat bottom

• less fuel used
• faster boat
• less maintenance in the long run and better resale value
• ability to use pressure washing instead of grinding or scraping to remove bottom contaminants

Note that growth on your boat bottom can increase its drag by as much as 10%. With our non-stick coatings, that growth can usually be released from a properly coated boat bottom when speeds of 10 to 15 knots are reached.

Once fouling has established a hold on a boat hull it will rapidly spread or "colonize" the surface. Prevention is therefore better than the cure of having to remove the fouling by scraping.

You may be interested in reading about our recent comparison between Smooth Sailing Antifouling and the popular Interlux product, VC 17m.

Reasons to keep your bottom free from fouling

Safety
Heavy fouling growth reduces responsiveness of the craft. The added weight of the fouling can make the boat sit lower in the water than intended. This can have obvious implications in heavy weather conditions.

Protection
Prolonged growth of certain types of fouling can damage the substrate of the hull. For example, the natural glues which organisms use to attach to the hull can damage wood and fiberglass. Fouling can also clog water intakes and cause damage to the engines.

Speed and Efficiency
Fouling causes drag. As drag is increased, fuel consumption increases and speed is reduced even to the point where a planing hull may not be able to get on plane. For racing boats, this can be the difference between winning and losing a race.

Smooth Sailing Antifouling coating is not meant to be a cosmetic or decorative coating. Smooth Sailing coatings rely first on the large polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) molecule which produces a drag coefficient smoother than ice. Smooth Sailing Antifouling also uses copper. Copper has been protecting boat bottoms from growth since the 1700s when Britain's Fast Ships like the Cutty Sark raced from the orient to England with cargoes of fresh Tea. All antifouling paints change when they are immersed. The true color will establish itself after the boat has been launched. Along the waterline you will often note that the antifouling coating looks dirty or faded and can often turn color from copper to a dark gray and ultimately to a green tone. This is due to the reaction of the paint with oxygen forming green copper oxide. Because color change will occur over time, you should try to keep the Smooth Sailing Antifouling coating as close to the true waterline as possible.

How often should a boat bottom be coated?

Smooth Sailing coatings will retain their antifouling properties as long as the coating is on the hull. Sanding between coats will add to the longevity of the bottom jobs. By sanding the bottom in the spring you will get more coats to adhere and forestall the day when too many coats means that you must remove all the antifouling coatings from the surface and start over. Smooth Sailing coatings must always be sanded even if they have just been power washed.

Smooth Sailing Standard and Smooth Sailing Antifouling are partially soluble which means that as water passes across the surface of the coating, the coating gradually wears down much like a bar of soap wears away. The action of the water steadily reduces the thickness of the paint at a controlled rate, which results in always having fresh biocide at the surface of the paint throughout the season. For this reason, these types of antifouling have the capability to perform in the areas of highest fouling challenge.

Because Smooth Sailing Standard and Smooth Sailing Antifouling bottom coatings wear away with use, there is no buildup of coatings that will eventually have to be removed from the surface. The minimal buildup reduces the maintenance and preparation needed when it is time to apply more antifouling. In contrast, Smooth Sailing Urethane lasts up to 12 years and is so hard that it does not wear away. Because of its long expected life, coating buildup is usually not an issue since five or six coatings can be applied before any thickness build up is a concern.

A disadvantage to hard antifouling paint is that frequent applications result in the buildup of residual paint film that occurs when the surface is not properly sanded prior to application of new coats of antifouling paint. When hard paints are hauled and stored for the winter season, the paint film, as well as the biocide, oxidize, making it more difficult to release biocide out of the film. For this reason, they must be sanded and re-coated with fresh antifouling before re-launching.

Smooth Sailing coatings use PTFE, the same chemical used in TeflonŽ. Most people associate Teflon® with nonstick household products or with the space program, but the properties that make it perfect for those applications also make it an ideal ingredient in antifouling coatings. PTFE creates the lowest coefficient of drag in any coating available. The lower the friction, the less energy is required to move the boat through the water. For powerboats this means greater RPM's, increased speed, and fuel savings. For sailboats, greater speeds are achieved with less wind. Because PTFE melts at 400 degrees or more it will not flow into gel coat pores when wet sanded, so new coats can be applied at any time.

Antifouling performance factors

The level of copper is not the only determining factor of how well an antifouling paint will perform. The resin-binder system, the material that holds the paint together, is equally important. In addition to holding the paint together, the resin-binder system determines how fast the copper and other biocides are released. The resin-binder system in Smooth Sailing is carefully tailored for the amount and type of copper used to obtain maximum efficiency. The amount of copper affects the life of an antifouling coating but the sophistication of the resin-binder system to hold and release copper is far more important to the effectiveness of the antifouling effect. Smooth Sailing Antifouling will release biocide at a nearly constant rate throughout its life. For this reason, the highly efficient Smooth Sailing Antifouling is less dependent on large amounts of copper to deliver the best possible performance.

Fluorourethane

Fluorourethane was originated by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratories (NRL) in the early 1970s. It was a combination of a fluorocarbon (Teflon) molecule with a urethane molecule. The material was unique in that it provided a surface with approximately the same coefficient of friction as the Teflon, was hydrophobic, UV resistant, and at the same time provided an abrasion resistance four times that of Teflon. The fluorourethane was originally tested on several ship hulls for the U.S. Navy. One boat tested was a harbor tugboat in Chesapeake Bay. The coating lasted 11-1/2 years compared to a conventional hull coating which lasted only 18-24 months. Of major interest was the fact that no rust or corrosion occurred under the coating. And biofouling, such as barnacles, could be removed with a high-pressure water jet instead of chipping or shot blasting.

Boat bottom preparation

Remove all contaminants, including "mold release wax" which is often on the surface of new boat bottoms, as follows:

1. Scrub thoroughly using a strong soap and water with a stiff brush. Rinse with fresh water to remove soap residue and allow surface to dry.
2. Next scrub the surface thoroughly using a Scotch-Brite® pad and an abrasive powder cleanser. Rinse all the cleanser off with fresh water.
3. Prior to sanding the hull, cleaning is very important. Sanding can push any remaining wax into pores that can keep antifouing coats from adhering. Using two rags, dampen one cheesecloth with denatured alcohol. Wipe the surface thoroughly to soften and dissolve the remaining wax. Use a second clean dry cheesecloth rag to remove the wax before the surface dries. Be sure to change rags frequently.
4. Lightly spray the surface with water to insure all contamination has been removed. If water beads up or separates, wax is still present. Repeat steps 2 and 3. At this point all wax and other contaminants should have been removed. Proceed to using a 120 grit, sanding sponge over the entire bottom.
5. Additional coats may be applied between 2 and 8 hours after each coat, without sanding. Light sanding should be done if additional coats are applied after 8 hours from the previous application.

How much bottom coating is needed?

The estimated surface area in the chart below is based on average boat size. Boat types and designs vary, so actual square footage may be different. A close approximation of your boat bottom can be calculated by multiplying the length overall (LOA) times the beam times 85% (LOA x beam x .85 = wetted surface area). Then divide the wetted surface area by the square foot coverage per quart of the product you are using. The result is the number of quarts needed for 1 coat. Here are the number of quarts needed for some typical wetted surface areas (shown in the second column from the left):
 

Order your choice of Smooth Sailing boat bottom paint today!

Our price is significantly lower than competing paints because we manufacture Smooth Sailing coatings right in our own facility. You are buying directly from the manufacturer and cutting out the middlemen. Only $39.98 per quart. We offer fast handling and a variety of shipping options.

You may like to try a 2-oz. size sample of Smooth Sailing Antifouling suitable for coating your mooring buoy, boat cradle, or dock braces.  It's a great way to see how easy Smooth Sailing goes on and what a great finish it creates—while protecting those small parts and making the removal of slime buildup much easier.  The price is only $3.98. Shipping to anywhere in the continental United States is free and you may select any of the three Smooth Sailing products, Standard, Antifouling, or Urethane.  Give us a call today to take advantage of this special online offer.

Call NOW toll free 800-466-8910 24/7. A sales assistant is standing by to take your order. You will be glad you did.