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 and no scrubbing 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 never gets 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 cannot 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. The joint Hempel and SeaWide release puts the average across all hulls at 5–7% — take that as the floor.
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. No mid-season scrub, 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.
One rule, and it is the only one that matters: no hard brushes, no bristles, no scouring pads. Soft sponge and mild boat soap — any marine-safe soap, no special branded cleaner. Tell your diver.
ALUMINIUM & STEEL
No copper. No biocide. No conflict with a metal hull.
Copper is cathodic to aluminium — 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 aluminium owners come to us specifically. It also sits well clear of where Washington’s antifouling rules are heading.
Fiberglass, steel and aluminium. 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.
What to expect after we roll it on
Silic One is rolled, not sprayed — that is Hempel’s specification. Two coats on the first application, one coat every time after.
It cures in two to three days. Dry, the surface feels slightly tacky — that is correct. Growth cannot get a grip on it, which is the whole point.
WARRANTY
Ask any other yard for their written warranty
Go on. Ask them. Ask the yard quoting you a bottom job to email you their warranty policy, in writing, before you book. Most of them do not have one.
What we warrant. Twelve months from the day the boat goes back in the water, on our application workmanship.
What we do about it. We reapply the coating to the affected area, materials and labour at no charge — and we cover the haul-out and the relaunch at our yard. That is the part other people leave out.
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
Hempel have been making antifouling since 1917. Silic One is not a consumer product with a marine label on the tin — it is a hydrogel fouling-release system from a company that coats commercial fleets, and it is the best bottom coating there is.
It does not poison anything. It gives fouling a surface it cannot hold. That single difference is why the boat is faster, why it stays faster, and why the next visit is a clean and a recoat instead of a strip and a repaint.
We were the launch applicator for Washington State. In February 2024 Hempel, SeaWide Distribution and Essential Shipyard brought Silic One to Washington for the first time, and we have since put it on more individual boats than any yard in the country.
“Hempel products are as close to a magic bullet as we can get when it comes to ecologically safe bottom coatings.” — Jason Knott, President, Essential Shipyard Industries
“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 she goes back in the water. Free with every job.
EXCELLENT
GOOD
MONITOR
ATTENTION
CRITICAL
Essential Shipyard 