Any Sea Ray owners adding Graphite to their bottom paint?

[pvan]

I redid my entire bottom paint this fall and added in graphite to aid in making the bottom more slippery. My intent is to make the boat perform a bit better by reducing drag.

I know performance boats have done this for years and figured I had nothing to lose except the not cheap expense of the graphite.

I did first talk to a coatings chemist who said the graphite should not hinder the properties of the bottom paint but he was uncertain if drag would really be reduced, but did say in theory it should help.

Looking for Searay owners feedback

 

[Gofirstclass]

Pvan, I've never heard of doing that but, if you did it, I'd be interested in hearing your observations.

BTW, which of the northern ID lakes are you on? We took our Whaler up there this summer to Pend O'Rielle, Hayden and Coeur d'Alene. Nice lakes all, and some beautiful homes.

 

[mistercomputerman]

I redid my entire bottom paint this fall and added in graphite to aid in making the bottom more slippery. My intent is to make the boat perform a bit better by reducing drag.

I know performance boats have done this for years and figured I had nothing to lose except the not cheap expense of the graphite.

I did first talk to a coatings chemist who said the graphite should not hinder the properties of the bottom paint but he was uncertain if drag would really be reduced, but did say in theory it should help.

Looking for Searay owners feedback

Sounds like you created a 30 foot long pencil. Now, you need some 60 foot long paper.

 

[H2ONUT]

Sounds like you created a 30 foot long pencil. Now, you need some 60 foot long paper.

And one hell of an eraser!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[src]

I suspect that any performance gains would be measured in fractional percentages. While the cost/benefit ratio might make sense for professional racers, for anyone else it sounds more like snake oil to me.

 

[themikehyde]

If they could make never wet into a bottom paint, we might have something?

 

[aerobat77]

i did it with international VC17 bottompaint this year after my boat never had bottompaint before. it has graphite/teflon surface.

it works great after a season in the water and its easy to clean of the bottom since no dirt really stucks to the slippery surface. in regards to performance its about the same like a clean hull without bottompaint .

final color is reached after the boat is in the water.

 

[Offshore57]

I used to race in the Uk and Europe in a 23 foot Batboat as a navigator...top end speed was aound 81 mph......owner and driver was advised to put this special super slippery stuff made in Russia on the botton of the boat to make it faster....so he did.....and the boat was slippery alright, but in every direction........so when we were trying to break our own World record on Lake Windermere we were sliding so much into the corners that eventually, we slid , then gripped suddenly and went over.....boy that lake was cold. Anyhow, super slippery isnt always the best, and certainly not in a hard turn.

 

[pvan]

Thanks for the feedback and maybe the graphite improvement is minimal, what the hay not the first time I have chased performance improvements with limited success.
To the Seahawk fan we are on Cda Lake, our 54' Twin Anchors House boat is on our own lot/dock in Carlin Bay and we keep the Ray and Baja in rented slips in downtown Cda for going accross the lake to the HB. If we are in a hurry we take the BAJA if we want to cruise we take the SeaRay...We are spoiled an lovin it here in N Idaho.

 

[JimT]

You should consider Petit Vivid if you are looking for a paint with a slick performance finish and antifouling properties.