Testing of hard and soft bottom paint in a Florida saltwater canal and a boatyard dock in Long Island Sound show that nearly all existing antifouling paints provide exceptional protection against hard growth for one season. The devil is in the detail of how well the paints hold up against the build-up of soft marine organisms, and for how long they will ward off barnacles. Although almost all of the paints Practical Sailor tested rated fair or good after 6 months, only one paint was rated excellent: Ablative/copolymer Micron 66 from Interlux. Although no paints garnered an excellent rating at18-months, Practical Sailor found several paints that continued to perform fairly…