Zyrex bottom coatings

Well....here's a little update from my perspective.

I haven't had as many opportunities to "test" and compare differences between "then and now"....or better put I suppose...just haven't taken the time to do so. However.

Things I have noticed with the Zyrex on my boat now are:

I seem to be able to plane at a bit lower RPM....with a bit higher speed than before. Depending on water conditions. On totally calm smooth waters....I've had it on plane at 2700 RPM....with a speed of 25 MPH ( on the speedo ). Compared to last year....3000 RPM @ 22-23 MPH. This year.....3000 RPM @ 26-27 MPH. But obviously all this changes depending on load and water conditions.

I believe I will get a higher top speed than before.....when I do try to open it up again. Last time I tried I got to 40 MPH and blew my prop...haven't tried again since. Last year top speed I got was 38.

I'm getting some "growth"....algae...some sort of green "stringy" fuzzy growth...attaching to the sides of the boat just at the water line which does not wipe off as easily as I hoped. Takes a bit of scrubbing with a brush as compared to reports I've read here about simply being able to wipe stuff off this Zyrex with a sponge. But it does come off easily enough.

Since I can't see the bottom....I don't know how much of that stuff may be sticking down there...if any. When I reach under and feel the bottom....I feel nothing there.....I suspect that's because it "self cleans" while I'm running I suppose.

When I pull the boat this fall....I expect whatever may be stuck to the Zyrex then to come off pretty easily with my pressure sprayer.

I think 2 of the biggest benefits for me are the fact that I have an epoxy barrier coat now....and the promise of not having to paint the bottom again. But time will tell I guess.

Oh yeah...and the difference in cost. The Zyrex cost me HALF of what West Marine wanted to sell me.
 
I agree with Old Vet -

I can't tell you what I was doing last year as I got the boat in Oct and pulled it in Nov. One time out and at that time was still a little nervous about running the boat. What I can tell you is that at 3200RPM I am running around 24 -26MPH. The other day I was at 3050RPM running 22-23MPH. I also found, and I hope to replicate this speed again, I was running 2200RPM and running 15-16MPH. Really liked that speed.
As for the green stuff on the sides at the water line. I have it and for the most part it goes away when I run. I have also take a hose to it while in the slip and it washed away quite easily compared to my neighbors boat who is always out running. I did pull my boat about two weeks ago as we thought we picked up a crab pot, didn't!. The bottom had some green mossy patches on it. I sprayed it with a hose and it came off quite easily. Other than that the bottom looked fine.
Outside of that if nothing else - I hope I don't have to paint her again for awhile.
 
Brackish. My boat has been sitting in the slip at MM for an engine rebuild for about 10 days now. I went there yesterday afternoon and you could see the build up of dirt, slime you name it. I took a hose and washed it away like it was nothing. A member of that member was watching and was shocked how easy it came off.
 
DO NOT USE ZYREX I JUST PUT IT ON MY BOAT NOW MY BOAT IS RE PAINTED WITH A ABLATIVE ,HAVE FOUND ANOTHER BOATER WITH HORROR STORY JUST LIKE MINE GOING TO POST MY STORY TONIGHT...Rip
 
Well boys after over one year of ZYREX questions and wondering about the SUPER stuff, here's the true story. After numerous conversations with Steve and Michelle Mika of Mikadoo Innovative Products Inc. of 40844 N IL RTE 59,
Antioch, IL 60002 and Zyrex Coating of 811 Pickard Avenue, Antioch, IL 60002, I purchased boat bottom paint. The determining factor that made me decide to make this purchase was based on Steve's and Michelle's repeated statement that this paint was so slick that scum, slime, and barnacles would not adhere to the bottom. In addition, they both had stressed that this paint had been on boats for at least 10 years and in some cases 20 years with no problems. Although the cost of this bottom job was going to cost me more than 4 times as much as a regular job done with ablative paint, I felt it was a wise choice because not only had they said had great this paint was they said that I would not have to repaint for at least 10 years. First of all being that I was going to use this wonderful paint, the bottom had to be cleaned down to the gel coat. So rather than take a chance with sanding and maybe not doing a first class job, I had the bottom blasted by a company called Eco-Strip. They are a first class company and have been blasting for years. They tent the boat at the water line and then inflate the tent with fans. They blast with volcanic pumice and cut all of the paint off right down to the gel coat. It does and excellent job and costs $1700.00. After the blasting is done, they power wash the bottom again, clean up what little mess and the job is done. I let the hull dry for 24 hours and then set up to paint the bottom. First we washed the entire bottom down with acetone. Then I mixed the paint for about 10 minutes with a stirrer on my drill. At that point we decided to mix a quart so we put half of the paint and half hardener together and stirred that for 5 minutes, let it set for 15 minutes, and started to paint. We had to mix more paint on that first coat as it takes more on the first coat than it does on any other coat. We finished up about noon. It's been very hot here in Florida, in the high 90's so we had to let the paint dry and cure so we went to ac. The next day we put another coat on the morning and in two hours it was hard as a rock so we put another coat on and went home. The third day we started in the morning and put on two coats in about 5 hours. Forgot to tell there's two of us doing this job. Waited 7 days and then put the boat back in the water. Meanwhile, I had been doing stripping and working on the inside of the boat. Took the boat back home. The boat set behind my house for 3 wks. I realized that I hadn't repacked the shafts so I decided to take the boat back to the yard, have them hang the boat, and I would repack the shafts. I had seen some goo starting to build up on the sides of the boat at the water line but didn't think anything of it. When we lifted the boat out of the water, I could not believe what I was looking at. That same brown goo was on the bottom of the boat along with thousands of little white crusty looking things. Also, barnacles in the early stages were forming. I ran the boat back down to the yard which is about 20 miles at 10 MPH by GPS. I wanted the bottom to be clean so I could look at it. Boy, was I surprised. At that point, the shaft packing was no big deal. I knew I had problems with the bottom. We took the boat over to the power wash area, cut the pressure back slightly because we were afraid we might penetrate the paint. We had a helluva time getting the brown growth off and never did get all of the calcium worms removed. Soon as the people at the boat yard saw the white crusty things, they told me that they were calcium worms and that barnacles will follow as you can see they are already starting to grow. Super paint, my ass!
I told them to block the boat and I would be back tomorrow. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I called Zyrex the next day and got Steve on his cell. He said he had never heard of calcium worms. Never heard of calcium worms and been selling bottom paint in salt water for over 20 years and never heard of calcium worms! He said he would have to talk to him chemist and would get back to me in a couple of days. He's going to get back to me in a couple of days and the meter is running at $28/day. Long story short....he never got back to me! And I couldn't get either he or Michelle on the phone. I asked him while I had him on the phone how I could paint over the Zyrex. He said all you have to do is scuff the bottom real well and use an ablative paint. Meanwhile, I can't get in contact with either one. When I originally contacted Steve, it was July 26th. Being that I hadn't heard anything by July 29th, I sent them an email telling them that we must get this matter settled that I wanted my money back. Still haven't heard anything. On Tuesday, August 2nd, I sent another email telling them that not facing the problem wasn't going to make it go away. You know you don't have to be the sharpest knife in the drawer to know when you're dealing with a couple of "shoemakers". At this point, I'm repainting the bottom of my boat with an ablative paint just trying to get it out of the yard. Another thing I noticed about that operation....they're always too busy to answer the phone but they don't have any problem when you're buying. Okay guys, this is the end of the story for now. The admiral is getting tired of typing and I'm getting mad all over again. There's a lot more to come and you are not going to believe what else I have to tell you......RIP
 
sorry to hear about your story there Rip.

I'm in fresh water in the Lake Ontario/St Lawrence River area so I can't speak to what may or may not happen in salt water but so far so good I think with my Zyrex application.

I am getting a little growth on the sides at the water line that comes off fairly easily with a brush.

I've been in the water though and felt under the boat at a few different locations and felt nothing there at all. I presume anything that may attach there when the boat is sitting is washing off when I'm under way.

Waiting for the fall to see what it all looks like after lift out. So for me the jury is still out. But nothing horrible to report at this point.
 
Yep ,I think that it does work in fresh cool water , damm near anything will work in fresh water,I had boats that were on a fresh water lake in Ala. (Lake martin) all summer ,no growth .I know that it doesn't work in brackish,salt water or pure salt water.The point is that they sold me the paint knowing full well that that there was real big trouble with salt water,and I'am not talking about a little problem , but a major problem.. They out and out lied to me,and I can prove it .One person I know it has cost over $12000.00 and that is just for openers.glad to hear you're not having any problems
 
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dicor said:
Damnmit....it always goes back to that old saying 'If it sounds too good to be true it probably isn't'
Click to expand...

If it sounds too good to be true it probably IS. If your quote was 'the saying' then we'd all be fine as all the too good to be true things would in fact be true.
 
gregkjones said:
If it sounds too good to be true it probably IS. If your quote was 'the saying' then we'd all be fine as all the too good to be true things would in fact be true.
Click to expand...
I was conveying the thought that if it sounds too good to be true it probably ISN'T true........
I'm sorry if I confounded and misled you.
 
dicor said:
I was conveying the thought that if it sounds too good to be true it probably ISN'T true........
I'm sorry if I confounded and misled you.
Click to expand...

Not confounding me, you just quoted it wrong. The "old saying" is "if it sounds to good to be true, it probably IS" as in "if it sounds to good to be true, it probably IS too good to be true". Sorry if you dont know the quote and are trying to make me look like the one confounded. It was a joke, sorry.
 
From the Cruisers forum dated 5/6/2011:


I and two of my friends attended the 2011 Miami Boat Show and visited the Zyrex Coatings Booth where we talked to Michell and Steve Mica owners of Zyrex Coatings as well as the man who developed Zyrex and then sold the company to the Mica's. Then, and in every conversation on the phone afterwards with the Mica's they assured me any growth would not be able to hold on the bottom of a boat that had Zyrex applied to it and if any did it would come off when the boat was run. I explained that I kept my boat in saltwater year round and they indicated that the product had been used in Califorina for years and that there was a boat in Tampa, Florida that had Zyrex on it's bottom with no problems. So I reluctantly ordered the epoxy and rollers. After receiving the order and thinking about their product, I was really was having reservations about my decision of using Zyrex. I called and talked to Steve and he assured me that the product would work well in saltwater and not to worry. With his assurance I decided to keep the product and use it.
Cortez Cove Marina in Cortez, Florida removed all the old paint by sandblasting mixed the the two part epoxy per Zyrex instructions included, and applied 6 coats of Zyrex. The bottom looked great and smooth while on the hard. The boat was put back in the water on April 21, 2011 and taken back to Sarasota. On May 3, 2011 I left on a 60 day cruise to Key West and then up the East Coast of Florida. Our second stop after leaving Sarasota was in Naples, Florida. Next stop Key West. When leaving Naples I attempted to get the boat on plane and up to cruising speed 17kts. The boat would not plane and only reached 12kts. When I arrived in Key West I had the bottom checked by Ray Bonner of Mirror Image Boat Service. He said the bottom was covered with barnacles and growth. He spent 3 to 4 hours cleaning the bottom at a cost of $225.00. May 31, 2011 San Augustine, FL had the bottom checked by Pier 88 found growth on the bottom and had the bottom cleaned again, $180.00.
During this time I tried repeatedly to contact Zyrex by phone and got no response. Then I received an email from them that said their chemist was working on a new epoxy that had anti-fouling properties in it and they would send me the new epoxy when it was ready at no cost. You would think that they would at least offer the $1,600 back for the cost of the epoxy and cleaning.
 
I've been watching this thread intensely, and have had some thoughts of using this product. Thank you for taking the time to post your experiences, I don't think I will risk it.
 
I just PM'd Riptide a little while ago. I pulled my boat a few weeks ago, b/c I thought I hit something or something had attached to the bottom, but nothing was there. I did have a little bit of this green fuzzy stuff but it wiped right off. My boat is at the local MM. Went there the other day and I was getting a build up of dirt/brown scum etc. I took a hose and it washed right off rather easily. I am headed to MM today to bring my boat home and pull it as I have some engine work to do. I'll check the bottom then, take pics and post them. I hope this isn't an ongoing issue with this paint and the owners.
 
Found out today from another boater that he had contacted ZYREX ,with growth problems as far back as May,in salt water, he sent me picts...Rip
 
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