Bottom paint, not antifoul

[mrming]

Hi all,

Just sold a boat which we blasted back to bare gelcoat, faired, epoxied and Copper Coated.

It took ages and cost a fair bit. The Copper Coat didn’t work well as an antifoul in our brackish water. Neither did any antifoul before though.

What was good however, was having a relatively hard, smooth paint surface on the bottom of the boat which meant I could be pretty vigorous with the pressure washer and quickly banish any fouling.

I now have a much larger boat, and the thought of antifouling it every year for little effect does not appeal. Neither do I want to bother with Copper Coat because for our area it doesn’t work.

So how about just painting the bottom with a a two pack type, hard paint?

We have great scrubbing off facilities in our club, and I’m only cruising now so don’t care as much anyway.

Am I mad? If not, is there are product that would suit?

 

[LadyInBed]

My boat has sat on a river for twenty years where the salinity of the water changes with the ebb and flow of the tide.
I don't AF it, just pressure wash it at the start of the season and sometimes again in August / September. The only times that I have AF'ed it was when I went down to Spain for the summer.
I had the boat out of the water a couple of years back to do some jobs and as the hull didn't look very pretty I bought a can of black household emulsion paint and covered it with that. It has stayed on surprisingly well!

 

[johnalison]

I think it will work for a while but the fouling will adhere more and more as the paint loses its surface gloss and the job will get harder and harder. It only took three weeks in the water for my Avon to grow barnacles a few years ago when we were in the West Country. A better option would be dry sailing. I can see this as an attractive option in places with high berthing costs.

 

[[185615]]

Hi all,

Just sold a boat which we blasted back to bare gelcoat, faired, epoxied and Copper Coated.

It took ages and cost a fair bit. The Copper Coat didn’t work well as an antifoul in our brackish water. Neither did any antifoul before though.

What was good however, was having a relatively hard, smooth paint surface on the bottom of the boat which meant I could be pretty vigorous with the pressure washer and quickly banish any fouling.

I now have a much larger boat, and the thought of antifouling it every year for little effect does not appeal. Neither do I want to bother with Copper Coat because for our area it doesn’t work.

So how about just painting the bottom with a a two pack type, hard paint?

We have great scrubbing off facilities in our club, and I’m only cruising now so don’t care as much anyway.

Am I mad? If not, is there are product that would suit?

Had similar thoughts for years., why not experiment?
Back in 1998 in Barcelona, I met an owner of a gorgeous 48 who told the occupants of bar we were in that he had the "cleanest bottom in the Med"
I later asked him in a quietor moment if he was referring to his boat, what did he treat it with.
He told me he bought the cheap antifoul in 20 ltr drums where the local fishermen bough theirs, after all it was just a medium for what was to be added to it.
The secret ingredient, or rather not so secret was the hottest chilli powder he could buy. He added as much as the paint could take and still be paintable, his joke was it didnt work in Mexico! but elsewhere his annual lift out showed he did indeed have the cleanest bottom.
The next year I did the same, and such were the results have continued to do so, now every other year, with a wash off inbetween.

 

[Clancy Moped]

​

 

[[185615]]

My boat has sat on a river for twenty years where the salinity of the water changes with the ebb and flow of the tide.
I don't AF it, just pressure wash it at the start of the season and sometimes again in August / September. The only times that I have AF'ed it was when I went down to Spain for the summer.
I had the boat out of the water a couple of years back to do some jobs and as the hull didn't look very pretty I bought a can of black household emulsion paint and covered it with that. It has stayed on surprisingly well!

Great to hear that your experiment worked out, so much guff advertising to buy expensive 'paint'

 

[[185615]]

View attachment 114949​

Good but a pig to put on

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

I now have a much larger boat, and the thought of antifouling it every year for little effect does not appeal. Neither do I want to bother with Copper Coat because for our area it doesn’t work.

To my knowledge and experience, CopperCoat works everywhere, sea and fresh water, provided that it has been applied properly.

 

[mrming]

To my knowledge and experience, CopperCoat works everywhere, sea and fresh water, provided that it has been applied properly.

Mine was applied properly, burnished and it remained stuck to the hull very effectively. I did 6 years of racing and when clean it was a nice finish. As an antifoul in our brackish river, however, it was completely ineffective. The growth was rampant.

 

[LadyInBed]

The secret ingredient, or rather not so secret was the hottest chilli powder he could buy.

I've heard of that approach before.
I wonder how it would fair in my emulsion, I might just give it a try next time around.

 

[Rappey]

There was a thread discussing additives on here recently and the consensus was that chilli powder was about as useful as adding chocolate.

 

[rib]

Now chocolate to chilli is good ?

 

[JumbleDuck]

To my knowledge and experience, CopperCoat works everywhere, sea and fresh water, provided that it has been applied properly.

 

[JumbleDuck]

I now have a much larger boat, and the thought of antifouling it every year for little effect does not appeal. Neither do I want to bother with Copper Coat because for our area it doesn’t work.

So how about just painting the bottom with a a two pack type, hard paint?

The problem is finding one. I was in a similar position to you when I restored the hull of my wee Hunter 490 (no reasonable offer refused). I had taken off all the existing mish-mash of paint and given it nine coats of gelshield, so I had a nice, clean solid base to paint on and, since she is/was used in fresh water only, paint woul dhave been fine.

However, the only paint I could find which the manufacturers cleared for underwater use was some Jotun stuff which was only available by the drum. For example, International say of Perfection

and of Super Gloss

and of Toplac

I toyed with the idea of leaving it bare, but Sod's Law dictated that the last coat of Gelshield was one of the green ones, so instead I used some red Trilux which I had bought cheap on eBay ages before. It probably doesn't have much antifouling effect any more, but that doesn't matter and at least it is intended for continuous immersion.

 

[mrming]

Okay thanks all. Interesting that such a product doesn’t exist. The boat has a fresh coat of normal AF on for now so I have a year or so to think about it.

 

[V1701]

I think it's a bit of a misconception that with Coppercoat there will be no growth whatsoever. My experience with it is that it will attract some growth if the boat is sat for some time but what does end up on there brushes off easily or mostly comes off when the boat is under way. I use one of those Scrubbis things and that works well enough, have never got barnacles or anything that is very hard to remove and haven't even had the boat out of the water to burnish the coppercoat to reveal fresh copper which is another thing that we're supposed to do.
I know some people have had bad experiences with it, be they down to bad batches or incorrect application I don't know but I would use Coppercoat again without hesitation. If I was buying would regard a boat having been recently Coppercoated as a bonus. My Colvic Watson 34 was epoxied and coppercoated before she was first launched in 2011 and I regard that as a pretty good insurance policy for protecting the hull below the waterline...

 

[mrming]

Unfortunately nothing works well where I moor, and that includes Coppercoat. It’s just the way it is. Been there, tried it (correctly applied). Same goes for various brands of conventional antifoul unf. The boat in question had a very fair hull I spent months preparing. She was a swing keeler, hence the desire not to be underneath her antifouling every year. I found shrimp in the keel casing which gives you an idea how abundant the marine life is hereabouts.

 

[[185615]]

I've heard of that approach before.
I wonder how it would fair in my emulsion, I might just give it a try next time around.

It may well do so. I am as surprised as others that emulsion, a water based product lasted very long.

 

[[185615]]

There was a thread discussing additives on here recently and the consensus was that chilli powder was about as useful as adding chocolate.

A skipper in Barcelona would beg to differ, as would I from personal experience.

 

[JumbleDuck]

A skipper in Barcelona would beg to differ, as would I from personal experience.

Send me £100 and I'll send you an elephant scarer, guaranteed to keep elephants out of your front room.