Zyrex bottom coatings

Nearing the end of Feb and like most here I'm sure...thinking more and more about the coming season. And high on my list of things to think about is my Zyrex bottom coating and what it's going to do this year.

This story below as told a few posts up has got me thinking and wondering.

"My dad and I both did Zyrex about 15 -16 yrs ago. We were both on an inland lake (Indiana). He did a '90 310da and I did a '89 280da. I bought his 310, sold my 280. One yr after Zyrex application the 280 struggled to get on plane but it sold. Moved the 310 south to tennessee river. Soon thereafter, another Zyrex coated boat, a 270 amberjack had same problem as the 280 and I followed suit."

On our last outing at the tail end of the season last year I seemed to start having a bit of trouble getting up on plane as well. NOTHING had changed mechanically on the boat. Everything was running just fine...but yet it struggled getting up on plane as compared to early in the season. Kind of a mystery to me and at this point I'm not sure what to make of it.

And then came along this tale from searay40dad above and it got me wondering.

Was the bottom so fouled it caused the sluggish performance but then finally getting up to speed cleaned it all off? Dunno. But the boat only sat for a week or two since the previous outing so I wouldn't have expected enough growth in that period to prevent me from getting up on plane as easily as normal.

A peculiar thing was that the boat sat for about 3 weeks after the last outing until lift out....and when lifted...the bottom was fairly clean and what little fouling that was there came off pretty easy with the pressure sprayer. Of course the water was colder then....so maybe that's why less fouling. But searay40dad's story has been kind of gnawing at me throughout the winter.

I sent an e-mail to Zyrex with a copy of searay40dad's story and asked them about it.....told them about my late season experience...and asked for their thoughts on the matter.

Since this Zyrex is basically an epoxy coating it seems....I also asked them if it could be painted over with a more traditional anti fouling paint if one wished to do so.

Got no response. :huh: Hate when that happens.

Anyway.....will be starting this season with a clean Zyrex bottom again and we'll see what this year brings. Still not 100% sure what to make of this Zyrex stuff.

Kinda disappointing that Riptide hasn't been back with more of his story and the pics promised.

Still interested here in hearing any other Zyrex stories from other users....good or bad.

OV and others - as most of you may remember I did use the Zyrex paint last year. Spent $2K for the entire process and for the most part did all the work myself. I have read the stories with great concern. It goes on great. Looks great. But based on the stories and phone calls I have I am concerned. Last year was not a good boating season for us. Engine issues and Marine Max issues, but that's another story. I will say this, boat was out of the water for about 7 weeks thanks to our marina not thinking of others (me) for repairs. We put the boat in took it for a ride but really didn't get to go many places. I think it was Columbus day weekend I went for two long rides and one I did a WOT event for the first time ever.
My boat sat for another three weeks or more before the marina/government would let me pull it. That's another story. I had some growth that is still there today as all the water was turned off and I couldn't pressure wash the sides. I say the sides as it appears that what is on there is at the water line and some on the bottom. I will take a picture this weekend and post it. I didn't take the boat for a run before pulling. Went from the slip to the haul out area. Maybe if I had most of that would have been gone. Not sure. I will check that this summer and again I will post that as well.
Joe

The fact they won't call you back tells you something about the integrity of the company. I think it's possible Zyrex can be effective in colder climates or in areas where bottom fouling isn't as severe. No question it's effective if you're in a situation where you can keep the bottom clean, i.e. storing on a lift, trailering or hauling out regularly.

I too remember seeing improved performance--stands to reason because the stuff had a very slick teflon-like finish. The more I think about it, I remember the owner of the marine service company telling me that he applied Zyrex to several boats and many of them were having problems after being in the water awhile. I think he ended up repainting several boats with ablative. I also remember scraping the bottom and the crap was very dense & deep--an inch or so thick. All of these are freshwater applications--both lakes and rivers.

The 89 280 had twin 205s I think and it got to the point where it would just plow through the water and really struggle to get on plane. The 310 had enough power to overcome the drag but there was a clear performance impact--this is the boat I scraped a few times until I decided to have it re-painted with ablative. Never saw the problem again. I remember the 270AJ beside me could barely get on plane so he had his removed and redone as well.

Again, this was 15-16 or so years ago. Dont think Zyrex had been out long...seemed like it was the "new thing" at the time. So, for a company to stay in business for 15 years, it must not be a widespread problem (possibly for the reasons I stated above) or they have adjusted the formulation somehow.

When the 310 was repainted they had to sand and strip the zyrex off (which was labor intensive) because the yard wouldn't guarantee the ablative would remain adhered to the zyrex. I had initially hoped it could serve as a barrier coat but decided against trying that approach as I wasn't interested in a 3rd bottom job in less than 3 years or whatever it was.

I'd keep trying to contact the company. Surely there's other info (tests and such) on the web too.

I hope you don't have to go through what I, my dad and others did with this stuff. Good luck!

Joe......

On lift out day I wasn't too displeased with the way the bottom looked. Lift out day here was such a crappy day that I didn't take as much time pressure washing as I probably should have but I got pretty much all off the bottom. I had crud on the sides at the water line that was pretty hard to remove. I'll do another more thorough pressure wash this spring once weather permits.

As I mentioned...what I am most mystified by is the difficulty I had getting up on plane on our last outing and searay40dad's story really got me wondering.

Not much I can do about it now. And I won't be removing my Zyrex......gonna give it another season as is and see how it performs this year. "fingers crossed".

"I remember the owner of the marine service company telling me that he applied Zyrex to several boats and many of them were having problems after being in the water awhile."

Sure would be nice to know why.

"I had initially hoped it could serve as a barrier coat "

Yeah this is what I've been wondering about as well.....and asked Zyrex about but sadly got no response.

I may try to phone them.

Unfortunately their lack of reply to my email has put a bad taste in my mouth....and IF....as Riptide states...they have acknowledged some sort of problem and refunded some money....then I wonder how honest an answer I'd get to my questions.

As you mentioned..... "The fact they won't call you back tells you something about the integrity of the company."

And I truly dislike being ignored by ANY company once they've got my money for their products or services.

"The fact they won't call you back tells you something about the integrity of the company.'

Yeah....I really dislike being ignored by ANY company once they've got my money for their products or services.

" I remember the owner of the marine service company telling me that he applied Zyrex to several boats and many of them were having problems after being in the water awhile."

Sure would be nice to know for sure why.

"the yard wouldn't guarantee the ablative would remain adhered to the zyrex. I had initially hoped it could serve as a barrier coat "

Yeah...this is what i was wondering about as well......and asked Zyrex about....and sadly got no reply.

I think I just may call them.

Well gang....welcome to the 2012 boating season. It's just getting underway for us here. I'm wondering how my bottom coating is going to do this season.

Before launch I got my bottom spotless again looking just like my Zyrex had just been applied. No idea what good it might do...if any....but feeling ambitious I applied a coat of Maquires wax to the bottom and buffed it. Figured what the hell....can't hurt.

Took the old girl for her first test run of the season and she came up and out of the water so beautifully and settled right up on plane really nicely.

Just wondering if there are any other horror stories surfacing about this bottom coat? Anyone else who used this stuff having second thoughts about going this route?

Well guys, im finaly going to report my findings since i have applied zyrex and been on lake michigan for 2 months now. Past weekend we went to the beack to have some fun and inspect what has built up since splashing. Well the waterline had some buildup which was a true B---h to get off. The bottom seemed a bit slimy but not as bad as your typical antifouling paint had on it from the previous season. I was told that this stuff was so slick it would wipe clean when it was on plane. Well i beg to differ because I had her WOT for 15 minutes and trimmed all the way up for max performance and to my amazement i LOST my top end of 32mph. Now I am only able to acheive 30mph at best. So below are my pros and cons


Total cost for our boat with soda blasting and zyrex was 2500.00 w/out my labor and I did all the painting
would I recommend this product? NO , I would try the vc-17 as other boats in our marina have it and looks great with no buildup whatsoever. Just my 2 cents

Pros = Looks great out of the water
Looks great in the water after scrubbing waterline
Appears as those i wont have to repaint bottom for a very long time
I am able to stay on plane at lower speeds. last seaon was 21mph. this year i can stay on plane at 18mph

Cons = VERY expensive to apply it the proper way per manufacturer
Doesnt clean the bottom like manufacturer said it would on plane
Lost 2mph at WOT
Buildup at waterline is difficult to remove

Wavedancer......

Curious what kind of build up at the waterline you're getting in your waters?

Here in lake Ontario/St Lawrence waaters......we're getting this green "furry" kind of crap building up. Apparently last year was the first year for it here. Got it again this year....and it takes a bit of elbow grease when scrubbing to get it off.

Was in a shallow bay yesterday cleaning and got rid of it.

The bottom feels pretty clean on my boat. Didn't have any goggles to get right under and take a look but ran my hands over the bottom and it felt pretty clean and smooth.

For what it's worth.....this spring I applied a coat of wax to the bottom just to see what it would be like. Don't know....but maybe that's helping mine to "self clean" while I'm under way. "shrug"

Other than that....mine seems to be holding up well....and the boat's performing well.

old vet.

yes im getting the fuzzy stuff just below the waterline which does come of pretty easy but right at the waterline it appears to be like a calcium buildup. and thats the stuff thats hard to get off.

I feel the fuzzy stuff on the bottom of the boat so i did do i quick cleaning where i could reach and thats it

My time to chime in. I had a rope around my port shaft so I had the boat pulled for two reasons. the one already stated and I had some barnacles on the side of the boat. So two days ago I had the boat pulled. For sure a crab pot rope was around the shaft and the barnacles were so thick I wanted to scream. I spent two hours that night and another 5 hours the next with help scrapping off barnacles. Not to mention I have missing Zyrex paint on the bottom. The members of our marina were in as much shock over it as I was.
I have called Steve at Zyrex - got the answering machine. I have been to their website but it appears that some of the links are disabled. I'll keep you posted -

So, what a roller coaster read. 8 pages ago I was getting ready to call and order the paint. Thak God I read the whole post!!!!!!!!!! Any updates? Rip, never did see any pictures? Thank you everyone for sharing your stories.

Just as a FYI: I put CopperCoat on my boat now exactly 3 months ago. I'm in tropical waters (water temperature > 67f - air temperatures > 77f) - and water is a lot more salty than most places (43 ppm)

So far only a bit of slime growth - no other growth. My pontoon has in the same period attracted a lot of mussels and barnacles. Boat has had 2 x 3 weeks no movement periods.

Stern drives had no treatment - and lower part are covered in growth. Enough to lower top speed from 35 knots to 31 knots. Upper part has almost no growth which I attribute to the effects of the CopperCoat.

The boat is being hauled out now to fix a tiny leak at starboard engine bellow - so I'll see if I can get a few pictures.

I too have been following this thread for two years. I even visited Searaybio270 while he was painting his bottom. The plans where to do my bottom last year but could not find the time. I'm very glad I did not do my boat with Zyrex.
I still plan to redo my bottom and looking at a new bio paint. I have seen two paints on the market, one made by Seahawk and the other called Eco-clad. These two paints pass the new upcoming EPA regulations because of not having heavy metal in them. They can be used in California and Maryland will soon have the same enviromental regulations. What I like about them is the muti-season of 2 or more years, 10% fuel savings and more speed. I have read all the articles I could find about them and only found one negative posted by a competing paint seller.
Still, sinse this is a new (wonder) product and have read about Zyrex, I am hesitant.
I would like to give this paint another year on the market so to have more reviews.

It would be best if I do my bottom this year since my boatyard said they are increasing the sandblasting fee latter this year. The sandblasting fee is being increased because the bags of sand has gone from $4 to $12 this year and the disposal of the sand must meet new EPA regulations.
Don't let me get started on the EPA.

Ok quick update. Just got back on the fourm. I have new paint coming in from Zyrex. Something there chemist said would be ok for waters on the Chesapeake bay. I think that stinks and isn't true. However, the new paint arrived today so I will take it to a chemist along with the other to see if it is different or the same.
So let me back up a little. I pulled again in early Oct the barnacles were worse than the first time. I was the attraction for them. Now I will tell you no other boat had any barnacles but mine. Again, I was very upset. So I called and emailed. I sent them Pictures of my boat - after sandblasting, after painting with Zyrex, 8/2012 with Barnacles, 10/2012 with barncales and pictures of every boat in the marina without barncales. Michelle sends me an email and said I should google the water in our area to see all the stuff that is in there. I sent the pics of the other boats with no barnacles. I asked them who would pay to remove the barnacle circles, sand the bottom so the new paint would take and repaint the bottom. Todate no answer. Todate I am still not finished with them.
Tonight I will start removing the barncales with Easy On Easy off from West marine. Then I need to sand the bottom. I will read the spec sheet about application. I sure hope I don't need to do 4 coats again. However, that might happen after I check with the chemist. Right now I can't sell my boat b/c of the bottom paint. I have two buyers and both are hesitant. Stay tuned. I'll try to post some pics of my boats life cycle through Zyrex.

Did pictures ever make it to this thread?

Or are we still at 28 pages with zero pictures?

I can't recall....

Doug

here is one. Having difficulty uploading.

I know this is an old thread but wanted to stress one point " DO NOT USE ZYREX BOTTOM PAINTS ON ANY BOAT" Just finished sanding the entire bottom of out boat so i can reapply a "REAL" Bottom paint. I was so dissatisfied when our boat was pulled in the fall. Boat was LOADED with tons of growth. And that was after a 82 mile trip. So when they say everything will slide off when on plane is a crock of Sh.. I did call zyrex to complain and they basically told me im S.O.L. Live and learn I guess. New bottom paint is VC-17

So I still feel like several have posted that this stuff sucks, but where's the pictures for proof? I think many are waiting to see how bad this growth really is.

Doug

douglee25 said:

So I still feel like several have posted that this stuff sucks, but where's the pictures for proof? I think many are waiting to see how bad this growth really is.

Doug

Click to expand...

Here is my boat being hauled out last week after sitting idle since november 2012. Bottom was last painted in spring of 2011. Last spring I only did the waterline. Bottom was clean last year and as you can see this year. The paint used was interlux Micron Extra. They claim its a multi season paint and my photo is the proof. Your nuts to try anything else.