Second Year Review of Eco Paint EP-2000 (Anti-fouling bottom paint)

We hoisted the Western Flyer out today.  It is on its trailer in the shop.  Now that I’ve had a second year with the Eco Paint EP-2000 I thought I should give a review.

In short - I don’t recommend using it.  It worked better the first year when applied on top of fresh (and still tacky per instructions) epoxy primer.   The second year I applied it on top of older paint prepared per instructions.  It was a fail.   This seems to be the consensus of other EP-2000 customers I’ve come across.

I use EP-2000 in white color.   White is the most reactive color for EP-2000.  It reacts to sunlight and gives off hydrogen peroxide.  My boat is a Wilderness 21.  It is in Yaquina Bay which is a saltwater bay with high tidal current and fairly clean water.  My boat went in on May 15 and was pulled today, October 13, 2023.  Six months.

In the first year it was pretty good at keeping algea and other growth off the bottom.  I brushed it weekly with a brush on a pole.  I snorkeled it twice.  It is known and accepted that small shreds of layer come off sometimes.  That’s what I saw.  Occasional small and thin sheets maybe quarter sized.   I went on a vacation and when I came back it had some thin algea that was easily wiped away with the brush and a sponge while snorkeling.

This year I saw a different side of it.  At first it was like last year.  It didn’t take long before I started seeing slightly larger peels than last year come off.  I had to do more to keep the algea off.  I went on vacation and when I came back the bottom was badly fouled.  I snorkeled it and had to do a second day of it.  Brown algea was everywhere.  A longer brown algea was on the bottom behind the keel.  Large sheets came off.  The rudder was down to epoxy primer on the trailing edge and was thin on the sides.

Before pulling it out I did not clean it for 3 weeks.  It was a mess.  The anti-fouling is just weak.  I took a couple of pictures after cleaning the hull.  You can see some large areas where the paint has peeled off.  Don’t let the pictures fool you - I did do a lot of washing and scrubbing to get it to this point.  Those areas were not white before the cleaning. 

Another point that makes me not recommend this paint is the manufacturer.  Early this year, based on my first good year, I decided to put it onto a new boat (Beneteau First 27 SE).  The boat yard in Seattle had some bad experience with it but I was positive on it.  They mentioned how it had a horrible second year and peeled off in large sheets.  Luckily (?) for me the yard could not buy EP-2000.  They tried several times.  The manufacturer said they were having trouble making the paint.  Something was going bad in the batches.  Finally they gave up and refunded the yard.

Ano