Bottom Paint 2005

The top paints from previous years, like Micron 66, get split decisions this year. Interlux's Trilux II comes in as the surprise top performer—too bad it's only available in Canada. Pettit's Hydrocoat and a paint from Blue Water did well in both Florida and Connecticut waters.

Sea grapes and other organisms attached themselves to the periphery of the test panels that came out of Long Island Sound, above. The panels in Florida were cleaner in general, but none of the paints allowed hard growth to form.

All the land over, commissioning time is fast approaching and boat bottoms are beckoning. At the top of any list of preparations will be "bottom paint," so here, for the 14th year straight, are Practical Sailor's ratings of most of the antifouling coatings on the market—54 of them this year, the same as last year, although some of the contestants have changed. As we've said before, this would be an absurdly high number of choices, except that no one knows how a particular paint will perform in a particular place and year—there are simply too many variables at play. …