Silicone foul-release
Hempel Silic One Silicone Bottom Paint
Two years in the water, still looking like the day it went in
SILICONE FOUL-RELEASE
Essential Shipyard is a certified premier applicator and dealer of Hempel Silic One. We have applied it to more individual boats than any other yard in the country.
INDEPENDENTLY INSPECTED
Do not take our word for it. Take the diver’s.
A boat we coated in Anacortes went in for its second annual underwater inspection with Silic One on the hull for exactly two seasons. Filmed by Seattle Dive Company — divers we did not send.
The result: a perfectly clean hull. No haul-out in two years.
SeaWide Distribution, Hempel’s North American distributor, published it. Then Hempel themselves replied in public: “a perfectly clean hull after two seasons… fouling-free performance without the need for yearly repainting.”
Growth struggles to get a grip
Silic One is not a poison. It is a surface. Hempel’s hydrogel holds an invisible, water-like micro-layer against the hull, and fouling struggles to attach to it.
The hydrogel rebuilds itself — disturb the layer and a new one forms the moment it meets water. There is nothing to use up.
It works on your propellers too. A fouled prop costs you more than a fouled hull ever will.
PERFORMANCE
Faster than a clean bottom — not just faster than a dirty one
Our planing-hull clients regularly report 10–15% better fuel economy.
That is our own figure, from our own customers. On speed we see 20% on fast boats regularly, and better than 10% on slower ones. Hempel and SeaWide put the published average fuel saving across all hulls at 5–7%.
And it starts working at 3–4 knots. You do not need to be running hard for the coating to clean itself. You need to be moving.
It cleans itself, or you wipe it
On motor boats Silic One is self-cleaning — whatever settles releases once it is under way, so there is no haul-out to get your speed back.
On sailboats and slower boats it cleans as often as you like: a soft sponge and a hose.
ALUMINUM & STEEL
No copper. No biocide. No conflict with a metal hull.
Cuprous oxide antifouling is cathodic to aluminum — in salt water the hull becomes the anode. Silic One contains no copper and no biocide at all, which removes the conflict entirely.
That is why aluminum owners come to us specifically. It also sits well clear of where Washington’s antifouling rules are heading.
Fiberglass, steel and aluminum. Fresh water or salt. Blue, black or red.
Maintenance is a recoat, not a repaint
Hempel’s service life on the hull is two years. When it comes due we clean it and lay on a single fresh coat. No stripping. No sanding — silicone is sanded once, on the first application, and never again.
Compare that with the cycle you already know: haul, wash, sand, repaint, and again next season.
Hempel Infinity reactivates a sound coating without repainting — less work, and it can be repeated. We will tell you which your boat is ready for when it comes out.
It goes straight over your existing antifouling
This is not a strip-to-gelcoat product. Silic One goes on new boats and on hulls already carrying antifouling, using Hempel’s conversion primer. If your bottom is sound enough that you would have painted over it, it is sound enough to convert.
WARRANTY
Our written warranty
Twelve months, in writing, on the product, our workmanship and the adhesion.
What we warrant. Twelve months from the day the boat goes back in the water, on the product, our application workmanship and the adhesion.
What we do about it. We reapply the coating to the affected area, materials and labor at no charge — and we cover the haul-out and the relaunch at our yard. That is the expensive part.
It follows the boat. Sell the boat inside the twelve months and it transfers to the new owner.
What we ask of you. Launch inside the window, clean with a soft sponge, and tell us in writing within thirty days if something looks wrong.
A silicone bottom is a stack — primer, tiecoat, two coats — and each layer goes on inside a window measured in hours. Hitting every one of those windows is the whole job. That is what our certification prevents, and it is why we can put the warranty in writing.
We brought it to Washington
In February 2024, Hempel, SeaWide Distribution and Essential Shipyard Industries partnered to bring Silic One and Hempaspeed TF to Washington State for the first time. We were the launch applicator for the entire state.
Silic One application is a certified course inside Essential Shipyard University. Our applicators are not learning it on your hull — they work from a written standard.
HEMPEL
This is the coating we want under your boat
“Essential Shipyard Industries has been an incredible partner in this, and we are confident that Hempel silicone and thin-film acrylic not only adheres to the state guidelines, but blows them out of the water.” — Lacey Neahr, Category Director, SeaWide Marine
Tell us the boat and we will tell you what it costs.
Boats we have coated
Terms and conditions apply.
The full warranty terms, exclusions, maintenance requirements and claim procedure come with your estimate. You receive a copy when you accept it, and nothing is agreed before you have read them.
Free for every customer
A complimentary 18-point inspection
An expert technician tests the boat’s systems and writes up every point as Excellent, Good, Monitor, Attention or Critical — a written report telling you what is sound, what to keep an eye on, and what has to be dealt with before it goes back in the water. Free with every job.
EXCELLENT
GOOD
MONITOR
ATTENTION
CRITICAL
