Dare I ask about coppercoat???

[Homer J]

I’m in the Beaulieu River so
Question 1 - will it work?
Question 2 - who would you recommend to do the work
Question 3 - 37ft Sun Odyssey -approximate cost? £2k?

All helpful comments gratefully received

 

[Sandy]

The answers below are my experience after getting Copper Coated 24 months ago

1) Having been sat in the marina for almost 12 months I have a small amount of growth, boats that have antifouling on are sporting lush growth.

2) A yard that does the work in a shed and do lots of boats, had mine done at Mylor, but that might be a bit far for you

3) Depends if your 2k is for just materials, I paid 4k, had I gone to a yard who did it in a tent I was quoted between 6 and 8k.

In summary the stuff is bloody brilliant. I get to hull speed with no effort and don't have the horrid job of antifouling each year, a quick lift at the end of this month for a jet wash and change of anodes and she will be like new.

 

[Homer J]

Thanks Sandy. I bought our boat from Plymouth, very little fouling in Beaulieu it’s completely different. what length is your boat? The price is much more than I was expecting

 

[Sandy]

She is 10.1 meters or 33 feet in old money.

I'm currently in Plymouth, walking round the marina about a third have CC and little growth the other boats that have not moved have an interesting collection of aquatic life on the hull.

I am convinced that the secret is in the application, hence the comment about going to somebody who does it frequently. While CC is sold as a DIY product my skills are totally different, hence I was happy to pay somebody who had the kit and the skill to do it well.

Having a shed gives the yard doing it total environment control, no rain no dew. I had the luxury of being able to have the work done in the summer.

 

[Tranona]

Answer to your questions

1 Yes it works. Just light slime easily washed off. Boat in all year round in Poole.

2 Several good people in the Solent area - mine (Bavaria 33) was done by Osmotec in Hamble Point. Big caveat - insist your chosen contractor blasts the keel if it is iron before applying good epoxy

3 Total job including lifting and storage (takes up to a couple of weeks) closer to £5k.

However - it is a perfectly viable DIY job. Blast keel and epoxy around £600, Coppercoat £1000, Plus haul out, storage and perhaps moving to do the pad patches.

The reason for insisting on blasting is that it is really difficult to get an iron keel sealed. Even though my boat was new the keel was ground before epoxy and although done thoroughly (and inside a shed) the bond started to fail after 2 years in the water and needed patching and after 5 years I bit the bullet and had it blasted and recoated with a different system then Coppercoat. did the application myself except the first epoxy coat after blasting. coat including all materials just over £600. Hull is fine.

In my opinion it is only worth doing if you have a long time horizon - I intend keeping the boat at least 10 years. The monetary saving is mostly in reduced haulout charges - perhaps once every 3 years and no annual AF costs plus no scraping and rolling on £150 worth of AF every year. A lift and wash once a year is still a good idea though.

 

[Daydream believer]

!2 weeks after sailing down to CI's & back to Bradwell over 8 weeks with 4 weeks of inactivity. The slime on the hull that everyone seems to think is OK slows my boat by a good knot so is unacceptable

 

[Kelpie]

We inherited 12yo copper coat on our boat, and the seller reckoned it was about time to give up on it. He had already given up on the cast iron keep and started painting that with AF.
Due to lockdown last year the boat went about fifteen months without coming out of the water, and we were expecting it to be pretty bad.
To our delight there was no hard growth, just slime which easily scrubbed off.
This year it was even better as we got to the boat at the normal time of year.

Due to lack of facilities we generally dry out on a wall each spring, and CC is fantastic for that as you don't need to worry about rain etc.

 

[Tranona]

Never seen anything like post#6 in over 5 years almost continuously in the water.
in this photo you can just make out the unwashed part of the hull forward. 9 months in the water, mostly going nowhere.

 

[CAPTAIN FANTASTIC]

A reply to your first point: Yes, Coppercoat works, but has to be done properly and the hull must be at the correct moisture level to avoid blistering, where water is trapped between gelcoat and coppercoat. Good luck.

 

[Stewproud]

Had Coppercoat for 3 years. Works very well for us, mixture of freshwater and the Baltic. Previously had extensive growth of small barnacles. It is normal for a small amount of growth in areas for the first season, then fine after that. Apply extra coat around the waterline, that is where the growth is more severe and then you can make sure that you give that area an extra buff each year. I am very pleased with the product..

 

[BabySharkDooDooDooDooDoo]

!2 weeks after sailing down to CI's & back to Bradwell over 8 weeks with 4 weeks of inactivity. The slime on the hull that everyone seems to think is OK slows my boat by a good knot so is unacceptable
View attachment 115468

Never seen anything like post#6 in over 5 years almost continuously in the water.
in this photo you can just make out the unwashed part of the hull forward. 9 months in the water, mostly going nowhere.
View attachment 115473View attachment 115474

A friend had his boat professionally prepared and copper coat applied in one of the Hamble boat yards last summer. It was relaunched last August, by April the fouling worse than that pictured meaning it was the first customer of the Sea Lift when it was re-commissioned.

 

[LONG_KEELER]

I was under the impression that the hull had to be "freshened" each season using wet and dry sanding .

Does this still apply ?

Am wondering if Hempel's Silic One might be a contender. Can go over existing antifouling , contains no copper and lasts two seasons. I know two people who have used it on displacement yachts and are very happy.

 

[Tranona]

I was under the impression that the hull had to be "freshened" each season using wet and dry sanding .

Does this still apply ?

Am wondering if Hempel's Silic One might be a contender. Can go over existing antifouling , contains no copper and lasts two seasons. I know two people who have used it on displacement yachts and are very happy.

Only needs refreshing if it does not seem to be working. Nothing done on mine but pressure wash in 5 years.

As I understand it Silic One is primarily aimed at fast MOBOs as it works by fouling washing off fouling. Seems not to like long periods without use, so probably not suitable for most yachts. Brochure suggests MOBOs and only picture of a boat is a big planing boat!

 

[Sandy]

Am wondering if Hempel's Silic One might be a contender. Can go over existing antifouling , contains no copper and lasts two seasons. I know two people who have used it on displacement yachts and are very happy.

Silic One is only a contender if the hull speed is constantly over 7 knots, their figure not mine. My assessment of it is, it is not suitable for a leisure sailor.

 

[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.
As Tranona points out the economics of it only work if you're keeping your boat for the foreseeable. Having it negates the need to lift out just to scrub & anifoul but if you're going to lift out every year anyway I'd maybe just carry on with antifouling...

 

[PeterBoater]

I was under the impression that the hull had to be "freshened" each season using wet and dry sanding .

Does this still apply ?

No, it doesn't and I doubt it ever did. From their own website:
"If, over the months, a slight accumulation of slime does appear, this can be removed by pressure washing or brushing. An annual wash or brush is recommended. Eventually, usually after several years, the surface may benefit from being lightly abraded with a fine grade of 400/600 grit “wet and dry” paper or a burnishing pad to expose fresh copper. "

 

[RichardS]

Coppercoat did not work for me. It was properly applied and has remained firmly in place for 5 years and has been abraded every year to a greater of lesser degree. However, the effectiveness has always been far worse than the previous conventional antifoul.

Richard

 

[Hot Property]

I was under the impression that the hull had to be "freshened" each season using wet and dry sanding .

Does this still apply ?

Am wondering if Hempel's Silic One might be a contender. Can go over existing antifouling , contains no copper and lasts two seasons. I know two people who have used it on displacement yachts and are very happy.

It's lasting 3 seasons on my sports cruiser......

Non toxic and any slime just rubs off. I have saved money by only needing a lift and hold for engine maintenance for 2 seasons. I plan to apply a refresher coat next year.

 

[iantomlinson]

I did ours in dartmouth myself. I've also done another boat and they are still going good. Preparation is the key and temperature.(don't trust anyone-do it yourself)-- make sure you apply an inch or more higher than the waterline. Ours has been in the water all year for 6 years. Scrubbed(slime) each year. If you sit in any mud, that mud will attract barnacles but they will scrape off easy. I still haven't burnished it after 6 years(still brown and working). I might do in a few years so thats when the copper will start working(going green). Whatever you do, make sure its on a proper base--over engineer it, gelshield(6 coats for us-not cheap) then 6 coats of coppercoat((£900 on a 34ft ketch). Probably cost us 3.5k with coppercoat/gelshield/labour/marina fees but i know its done correct and 6 years later its still using the surface coat before i need to burnish it. Blowing own trumpet but proud.

 

[oldgit]

Have Coppercoat on my motor boat.
It has no fouling on it at all.
Mind you it is under several coats of conventional A/F .