In 2007 I raced my Ranger 23 Tall Rig, on the St. Croix only to find that I could not seem to break 4 knots. I posted a complaint on the MSN Ranger web site asking why I was loosing races and could not achieve any significant speed.

I had lots of tips about sails etc. but a few Ranger 23 members asked if my hull was clean. Even though I had scrubbed the boat hull with a long handled brush during the season. When I took the boat out at the end of the season I found it hard remove fibbers growths on the shady bottom of the boat creating a thin mat over much of the vary bottom of the hull.

In the spring of 2008 I sanded my boat bottom, keel and rudder and applied VC 17 to the port side and Smooth Sailing Antifouling non-stick to the Starboard side of the boat bottom, keel, and rudder.

This year I raced with speeds up to 7.1 knots, and took a second in the Hudson to Prescot to Hudson race, even beating several J 80's.

I intentionally did not wash my boat bottom all season (7 months).

When I took the boat out at the end of the season this is what I found.

Both sides of the boat bottom, keel and rudder had a thin layer of dead slime to about a 1/32 of an inch. Except along the bottom 6 inches of the keel. Bottom silt and sand had scrubbed the keel the few time during the season that I ran aground.

The Port side (VC 17) had a lot of blue (my original bottom paint) showing through, and virtually gone on the rudder. The starboard side of the boat with the Smooth Sailing Antifouling, non-stick was still copper colored over about 90 % of the surfaces.

Both sides had some areas that had never been coated where the trailer cradle wheels were and also a few long lines along the bottom that had ropes holding the boat to the trailer that I was afraid to remove so coated around. Those areas remained fiber free.

I had left a two foot long bare area on the bottom of the port side where I had a strip of Smooth Sailing, a gap with the old blue bottom paint never coated and a small area of a Urethane Teflon coating in white. In this area the Smooth Sailing Antifouling was still strong and untouched. There were fibers growing on the old blue bottom paint, and the Urethane Teflon coating had no fibers but did not rinse off fast like the copper bottom VC 17 or the Smooth Sailing Antifouling. With the slime covering the Urethane Teflon did come off when I wiped it with my finger.

You can get a sample kit of the product for $1 (plus shipping) that will cover 5 sq. ft. to do your own test for 2009. Just call them at 800-466-8910.

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