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It's baaack ... Micron Optima earns the overall best rating. Interlux and the Kop-Coat companies take 10 of 13 'excellent' ratings, Sea Hawk gets two, and E-Paint one. Pettit Ultima SR looks good long-term.

What, you were expecting Sandra Bullock with the paint? These are the Connecticut panels just after being hauled out and sluiced off. They had been been tied in a loop, paint-side out, and shifted regularly during their immersion.

Just in time for commissioning chores in temperate climes, here are the results from our 12th annual bottom paint tests. These are among the more involved full-time tests we do, especially since we started rigging panels in both Connecticut and Florida a couple of years ago. The practical analysis isn't complicated—the ratings themselves take a small fraction of the prep and test time—but the topic is really interesting when you consider the variations in paints and test conditions over the long haul. As one reader wrote, it takes years to see which paints behave well consistently. …