Although the company’s Web site tends towards the superlative, saying that Go-Fast Bottom Paint will “Keep hull clean!” and “Increase Speed!,” it does anything but, according to boat owners who applied the paint this past spring and summer.

Go-Fast customers are so irate that a class action lawsuit was filed in August in New Jersey Superior Court against Dolphinite, Inc., and Clean Seas Company of Jacksonville, FL. Clean Seas manufactured the antifouling paint, which was sold under the Dolphinite Go-Fast and Dolphinite Inflatable Bottom Coat labels. BoatU.S. has received about three dozen complaints from Go-Fast users, but no reports about failures of Inflatable Bottom Coat.

One boat owner told BoatU.S. he was considering using a lawnmower to remove sea grass and algae from his hull. Other owners told BoatU.S. that the coating peeled off in sheets or that their hull bottoms became underwater habitats where mussels, crabs, worms and clams lived amidst luxuriant marine vegetation.

The class action seeks damages for consumers who purchased paint that Dolphinite of Ipswich, MA, admits is defective. Boat owners say it costs at least $1,500 to correct damages.

“What we have is a company wrongfully promoting the capabilities and advantages of an expensive marine paint product that simply did not live up to its billing,” according to maritime lawyer John Fulweiler of DeOrchis & Partners, LLP, of New York, which filed the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, an industry version of paint ball rages as criticism is lobbed between Dolphinite and Clean Seas.

A statement on Dolphinite’s Web site says, “The paint formula that Dolphinite originally received from Clean Seas Company functioned properly and contained the correct amounts of each ingredient, however, when Clean Seas Company mass produced the product, they neglected to use the same formula.”

Dolphinite hired an independent laboratory to run tests. Dolphinite says the tests show that “the pre-market test sample has significantly less water content (indicating the commercial sample had been drastically diluted), as well as differences in proportions of various metallic elements than the commercial sample. In addition, the test sample had significantly more enzyme activity (approximately 90% more) than the commercial sample.”

In mid-August, Clean Seas president Martin Polsenski told BoatU.S. he was unaware of the lawsuit and refused to comment on Dolphinite’s Web site statements.

“We stand firmly behind our technology and believe the problems being encountered are a direct result of conditions completely within Dolphinite’s control,” Polsenski said in a statement.

“The problem has been further exacerbated by Dolphinite’s failure to initiate a product recall once the problem was identified, and to correct instructions as to the proper handling and use of the product,” he said. “To date, Dolphinite has not provided sufficient data to determine the cause of the performance issues similar to the type you have experienced,” he added, stating that Clean Seas would stand by its warranty to furnish paint at no cost when users have problems.

Polsenski said his company has not received any test results from Dolphinite that would assist in determination of a problem. In addition, he said, Clean Seas has not had the same customer complaints with its product when “proper preparation and application instructions have been emphasized and employed.

Shortly after Go-Fast paint problems became apparent, the product was pulled from West Marine stores and BoatU.S. Marine Center shelves and purchasers were given refunds.

To learn more about the class action lawsuit, contact attorney John Fulweiler, 212-344-7977 or jfulweiler@marinelex.com.

(c) Copyright BoatUS Magazine, November 2003