Part of what drew us to sailing was the notion that it would be a way to live more lightly on this planet. Once we’re living on Rumiko our physical footprint will be wee, and our ecological footprint will also be quite small (very minor diesel fuel usage, about a gallon of fresh water per person per day, electricity generated by solar panels, etc). But there are aspects of the sailing life that are not so “green.”
For example, bottom paint is notoriously nasty. In the past it was laced with metals such as mercury, lead or arsenic. Copper and tin are used today, but are being phased out in many regions of the world. Biocides are also used in the paint. The various toxic products are used to prevent or minimize the build-up of marine organisms, such as barnacles, on the hull, keel and rudder. Different toxic mixtures may be used depending on where one sails, as differences in salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen levels in water can impact the effectiveness of the paint.
The toxicity of bottom paint is not something that we feel good about, and as we learn more about sailboat maintenance we will be on the lookout for less environmentally damaging products. For example, there is a company called E-Paint that offers less toxic alternatives, and we will definitely check them out more thoroughly before we have to paint our bottom again. But this time, primarily due to time constraints and feeling overwhelmed by our long "to-do" list, we did not pursue the most eco-friendly bottom paint option – we simply used the paint offered by the Bercovich boat yard.
As mentioned in a previous posting, we had Rumiko’s bottom primed and painted by the Bercovich workers. Thankfully, our hull was in fairly good shape, so there was no need to repair the gel- or barrier coats found below the paint. So the Bercovich boys simply sandblasted the exterior, and then primed the areas that had been worn down to the slippery gel-coat. We weren’t there during the sandblasting, but likely it created a plume of burgundy dust (the old bottom paint was burgundy).
Blueman Group comes to La Paz
Why are they still smiling?
Maybe there was mercury
in that bottom paint.
We have friends (Burke from Isis and Eric from Wistful) who have done extensive sanding of their boats’ bottoms so that they could repair their hulls' fiberglass. To do so, Burke and Eric suited up with respirators, goggles, full-body protective jumpsuits, etc., to keep as much of the toxic dust off and out of their bodies as possible.
Still, all of that protection was unable to keep the insidious dust from coming into contact with skin, and forming a thin dust layer on items on and off of their boats.
A month after Eric finished sanding, his girlfriend Alexis, who was in La Paz for a visit, found the dust in Eric’s ears, navel, and other body regions.
Both Isis and Wistful had blue bottom paint, and so we’ve jokingly called them the Bluemen of La Paz. Lisa finds it humorous and oddly coincidental that both Burke and Eric look like they could be members of the Blueman Group – they’re tall, thin, bald. . . and the resemblance is especially uncanny when they are covered in blue bottom paint.
Lisa thinks they must be harboring secret desires to join the Blueman Group troupe. So Burke and Eric, if you’re reading this, here’s a link to the casting page of the Blueman Group web site, with directions on how to audition.
As we’ve mentioned before, when the workers at Bercovich (and probably other Mexican boat yards) do much of the boat work such as sanding and welding, they sometimes wear little disposable fabric masks – but often no other protective gear. Our hats go off to Burke and Eric for being smart enough to wear protective gear, and for doing the work themselves to keep the boat-yard workers from adding more of a toxic burden to their bodies.
For example, bottom paint is notoriously nasty. In the past it was laced with metals such as mercury, lead or arsenic. Copper and tin are used today, but are being phased out in many regions of the world. Biocides are also used in the paint. The various toxic products are used to prevent or minimize the build-up of marine organisms, such as barnacles, on the hull, keel and rudder. Different toxic mixtures may be used depending on where one sails, as differences in salinity, temperature and dissolved oxygen levels in water can impact the effectiveness of the paint.
The toxicity of bottom paint is not something that we feel good about, and as we learn more about sailboat maintenance we will be on the lookout for less environmentally damaging products. For example, there is a company called E-Paint that offers less toxic alternatives, and we will definitely check them out more thoroughly before we have to paint our bottom again. But this time, primarily due to time constraints and feeling overwhelmed by our long "to-do" list, we did not pursue the most eco-friendly bottom paint option – we simply used the paint offered by the Bercovich boat yard.
As mentioned in a previous posting, we had Rumiko’s bottom primed and painted by the Bercovich workers. Thankfully, our hull was in fairly good shape, so there was no need to repair the gel- or barrier coats found below the paint. So the Bercovich boys simply sandblasted the exterior, and then primed the areas that had been worn down to the slippery gel-coat. We weren’t there during the sandblasting, but likely it created a plume of burgundy dust (the old bottom paint was burgundy).
Blueman Group comes to La Paz
Why are they still smiling?
Maybe there was mercury
in that bottom paint.
We have friends (Burke from Isis and Eric from Wistful) who have done extensive sanding of their boats’ bottoms so that they could repair their hulls' fiberglass. To do so, Burke and Eric suited up with respirators, goggles, full-body protective jumpsuits, etc., to keep as much of the toxic dust off and out of their bodies as possible.
Still, all of that protection was unable to keep the insidious dust from coming into contact with skin, and forming a thin dust layer on items on and off of their boats.
A month after Eric finished sanding, his girlfriend Alexis, who was in La Paz for a visit, found the dust in Eric’s ears, navel, and other body regions.Both Isis and Wistful had blue bottom paint, and so we’ve jokingly called them the Bluemen of La Paz. Lisa finds it humorous and oddly coincidental that both Burke and Eric look like they could be members of the Blueman Group – they’re tall, thin, bald. . . and the resemblance is especially uncanny when they are covered in blue bottom paint.
Lisa thinks they must be harboring secret desires to join the Blueman Group troupe. So Burke and Eric, if you’re reading this, here’s a link to the casting page of the Blueman Group web site, with directions on how to audition.As we’ve mentioned before, when the workers at Bercovich (and probably other Mexican boat yards) do much of the boat work such as sanding and welding, they sometimes wear little disposable fabric masks – but often no other protective gear. Our hats go off to Burke and Eric for being smart enough to wear protective gear, and for doing the work themselves to keep the boat-yard workers from adding more of a toxic burden to their bodies.
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