MidatlanticPaint
Bert Jabin’s Boatyard in Annapolis is the epicenter of raceboat interest on the Chesapeake Bay and a handful of competitors campaigning Mumm 30s, Farr 40s, and bigger boats are opting to dry sail and eliminate the bottom paint issue altogether. Their faired and epoxy primed hulls and foils are finished with Awlgrip 545, or Interprotect 2000 and wet sanded to a 600-grit finish. The cost of in-and-out TravelLift service well exceeds annual bottom paint and cleaning expenditures, but the pristine condition of the surface before each race has significant appeal. Mainstream racers in the Mid-Atlantic face a lengthy season with high water temperature and critters that stick to the hull along with a summer bloom of stinging sea nettles that punish crew members who attempt to pre-race bottom wipe downs. The nettles lessen the enthusiasm for bottom cleaning and enhance interest in top end ablative coatings like Awlgrip’s`Awlstar Gold Label, Pettit’s Ultima and Interlux’s new Micron 66, a product that according to Interlux’s Jim Seidel self polishes like its popular predecessors Micron 22 and 33.
