Inside Practical Sailor

I just finished my first run-through on bottom paint prices and noticed that, for the first time in recent memory, I don't see any significant price jumps. Naturally, with the lagging economy, it behooves paint makers to offer the best value to consumers. Nevertheless, I was surprised by some of the prices, particularly since copper prices have regained much of the ground they lost last year. Several of our Good paints in our six-month checkup fell right around $100/gallon mark.

Several readers have forwarded me a press release on the latest high-tech nano-coating - a spray on glass coating designed to protect a wide range of surfaces from . . . well, just about anything. According to the press release, the nanotechnology product, developed in Turkey and owned by a German company, yields a harmless spray that can protect virtually any surface against dirt and mildew and weathering for up to a year.

The bottom paint update coming up in the March issue of Practical Sailor will feature more than a dozen new antifouling paints, and many of them are no-copper or low-copper varieties. While paint manufacturers could potentially save a bundle by reducing the copper content in their paints, the costs associated with bringing an effective alternative biocide to the market are a big impediment. (No, simply adding cayenne to a cheap bottom paint doesn't work.) If there is to be any motion in a green-paint direction, government policy will be the prime mover.