Slick shield experience not so good

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billp
1st mate
1st mate
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:37 pm

Slick shield experience not so good

Post by billp »

We put Slick Shield on Spitfire in March in Stuart. It seemed fine and I brought the boat up the coast to the Chesapeake. She has since traveled up to Long Island Sound. Now, after two weeks sitting in a slip in Port Washington, the running gear is covered and I could not get above 16 knots at 3400 rpm, where I should be at 20 knots!

The local diver said the product may work better in Florida, or on another kind of boat that doesn't have its zincs so close to running gear. But for this area, it is no better than bare metal. Prop Speed is what they use here and it works.

Just thought I would pass along my experience.
BillP
Spitfire / 4108
John&Ria
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Location: Vancouver BC (PDQ 34 hull 111)
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Re: Slick shield experience not so good

Post by John&Ria »

We also had Slick Shield applied in March. Since then we have travelled about 2200 miles from Stuart to the Saguenay region of Quebec, through a wide variety of water conditions. From my underwater observations of the running gear (both sight and feel), it would appear we have lost most of the coating and picked up a few barnacles along the way. Fortunately there has been no other growth - and we continue to get excellent speed and fuel economy - however I suspect this is the result of fairly constant movement (about 5 days being the longest period of time in one place).

Given this experience I don't believe we would invest in Slick Shield again, at least while the boat is regularly on the move.

John Evans
His Idea
34-111
billp
1st mate
1st mate
Posts: 32
Joined: Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:37 pm

Re: Slick shield experience not so good

Post by billp »

I just learned that the problem is that the coating does not stay on anything it is applied to, so it is a complete waste of money.

And apparently the folks who recommended it at the PDQ Rendezvous got nowhere when they contacted the company who makes it. Another snake oil product in the marine industry...stay away!
BillP
Spitfire / 4108
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