Coating bare steel with antifouling paint

I think you got the advice from a clerk who's only job is to answer phones and emails from their customer assistance desk. He may have been instructed in exactly what he wrote you, but than actually contacted their R&D department to verify what he wrote and than got back with you. They sell a lot of products and get all kinds of simple to answer questions, their clerks just read the labels.

This is not unusual, I have had this experience with another paint company once, Minwax as I recall. At least the tech support was smart enough to refer my question to their R&D department from the start. I got a call back later and got to talk to their head chemist (a PhD chemist, ran the department) about my problem and he was very knowledgeable and helpful.

I once had an interesting interchange with another paint manufacturer about a product they sell to water proof decks and porches. I asked about if it would be water tight for use on the fabric for a skin-on-frame kayak (they sell it as a means of waterproofing decks). We went around in circles for several exchanges with "we do not recommend its use on a kayak hull" several times, and than after rewording my question several times got a "we do not recommend, etc....however, if you do, it should hold up better than our other products". I also think my question finally got refereed to someone else in the company.

It is always best to ask that your question be forwarded to their internal technical experts for critical issues rather than depend on a "help desk" clerk.

 

Paint manufacturers are often dumber than you might expect. Their research or R&D facility often doesn't exist as a real entity and they are as prone to believing their own hype as the poor customer. The paint recipes are not secret and are nearly all public domain, manufacturers just batch mix, and can it. They simply can't justify any R&D.

I've found knowledge of paint standards and testing procedures to be woefully inadequate among many paint manufacturers. That's one thing you buy when you get expensive "marine " brand paints, they test their products and gtee a consistent level of quality often quite variable amongst smaller manufacturers. They also have reps who know their paints and their applications who field queries and even come look at your ships hull.

You could make your own rosin based copper oxide anitifouling very easily, the hard part is sourcing the quantities in small enough amounts for a smaller vessel.

A good example of profit driven woolly science from paint R&D is to look at the supposed "insulating paint" manufacturers

 

the larger paint manufactures do have well equieped RandD facilities becasue of all of the regulations they are subject to, and many offer warranties. A single batch of bad paint would cost them lots because of their size.

What you write is true of the smaller paint companies, many of which are specialty suppliers. consider the amount of marine paint produced compared to the amount of house paint for example, a very large order of magnitude difference. And even smaller market is aircraft paint, all having to meet FAA standards that are many decades old, and the volume sold is nill.

 

I believe commercial ships get blasted to white metal, then epoxy painted then bottom paint.

 

Every time I've called International's help line (admittedly, it's been 10 years or more), they have been more than helpful.

What a nice change compared to speaking with an English-second-language voice in India who puts you on hold

while they call USA for the "answer"...

 

First International Primer for aluminium alloy and then International antyfouling.

Best regards,