Off topic poll about antifouling coatings

[tangaroa3]

Good Day Folks,
I hope a non engine discussion is OK....but it is about boats.
I'm taking all the coatings off of the bottom of our C&C Corvette and starting over. The last antifouling paint I used was Petit Hydrocoat CF (copper free) which was essentially useless here on the Chesapeake. Fouled very quickly, did not slough off underway and eventually fouled very badly including hard growth. A short haul and gentle power wash last fall to try and clean it up a bit basically blew what was left of the paint off of the boat.
So...taking it down to gelcoat and starting over.
The Corvette is a bit odd in that it has an aluminum rudder. It's epoxy coated (as is the iron centerboard) but I still feel compelled to used a copper free antifouling paint to prevent it from becoming swiss cheese.
Any other Corvette owners out there with thoughts on this?
What are you Chesapeake boaters using for antifouling? What is holding up best? I'm considering switching to a hard paint due to the fact that you cannot dive on your boat to scrub the bottom if you have an ablative.
Hope everyone is safe and healthy during this time.
Thanks,
Todd

[Administrator]

Hi, Todd:

We're on the mid-Chesapeake, and we use Petit Hydrocoat on the hull. The marina staff loves it because it's water-based and so easy to use/clean-up. With that, we get would I would call adequate results. The problem here is growth on the props.

We use the Petit aluminum-colored aerosol on the prop and shaft, as do most boaters here, with poor results. You're guaranteed a short-haul mid-season. Wish I knew of something better.

Bill

[scratchee]

My response is exactly the same as Bill: adequate results with Pettit Hydrocoat and poor results with the Pettit Barnacle Barrier on the prop. This was my first season with the prop coating but I have used Hydrocoat since purchasing the boat in 2012 and have been happy with it. I've been within 25 miles of Annapolis the whole time.

For the prop I generally dive on it once or twice per season. I bought a small scuba tank for that purpose. I'm pretty sure a scuba tank that lasts a couple decades (I already had the other gear) is less expensive than a single-season application of Propspeed.

EDIT: I did not use the copper-free Hydrocoat.