A revolutionary new development which will change the maritime industry forever

That's a good point about the SG of AF. Perhaps S14 might consider the use of entrained air into the AF injection nozzles in my suggested modification of a shaped mould. Provided no surfactants are present in the AF, the function of the air bubbles would be to help 'roll' the paint onto the hull and into any of those small cracks in paint coats which take some much extra effort to roller or brush in.

Control of the temperature of the AF bath could be critical, as too high would make the coating dry too quickly when the boat is lifted, but it would then be possible to treat a boat in mid-winter, thus enabling the business to spread the work load away from the Spring rush.
 
I don't think that the idea is at all ridiculous and would like to book you for April the 1st

I would like navy blue self-eroding antifoul applied to my 25 foot fin keeled yacht.

It's the one over in the corner behind the 300 other yachts but I'm sure that your crane will be large enought to cherry pick my boat out. As it's only going to take 10 minutes and the paint will be dry by then I am sure that I can advise the yard that there will be no risk of drips falling onto the other boats as you slot mine back into place.

Luckily I have a friend who has a 25 foot power boat. He would like hard anti fouling applied to his boat. White. Luckily for you he is not in the same corner as me ... he is in the other corner just by the overhead electrical cables.

Could you p.m. me to discuss costs?

My boat is based on the south coast

Thanks
 
OK, 37000KG, I don't think it will fit in a skip though :confused:

Yes that is slightly to heavy for our current lifting capacity. We are currently in the process of developing a system for the antifouling of larger yachts, as you are aware we are a new business and these things take time. hopefuly we will have expanded sufficently to be able to facillitate yachts such as yours in the near future.
 
That's a good point about the SG of AF. Perhaps S14 might consider the use of entrained air into the AF injection nozzles in my suggested modification of a shaped mould. Provided no surfactants are present in the AF, the function of the air bubbles would be to help 'roll' the paint onto the hull and into any of those small cracks in paint coats which take some much extra effort to roller or brush in.

Control of the temperature of the AF bath could be critical, as too high would make the coating dry too quickly when the boat is lifted, but it would then be possible to treat a boat in mid-winter, thus enabling the business to spread the work load away from the Spring rush.

Thankyou for the positive input it is much appreciated.
 
Skipper14 don't think its barking! I am looking forward to him doing a presentation to a group of very hairy, very cynical marine engineers.

I will happily explain the project to anyone, but I am delighted to have interest from such highly qualified people.

Also the amount of hair, or in fact lack of hair on any customers or interested engineers will in no way affect the system
 
Even for a 25' boat there would need to be a tank nearly 9m long by 3m wide by 2m deep. 9*3*2=54 cubic metres. If I understood a previous post AF weighs double water for it's volume? So 54*2 makes 104 tons just of antifoul.
Thats one hell of a lorry to haul that. Add the weight of the dipping tank...
I'm not trying to mock your idea, but I'm interested in the 'hows'.
 
I will happily explain the project to anyone, but I am delighted to have interest from such highly qualified people.

Also the amount of hair, or in fact lack of hair on any customers or interested engineers will in no way affect the system

Simon,

I dearly wish this was a serious proposal; meanwhile please tell me where the presentation is going to be on April 1st, I'm sure youtube will be interested; I'm particularly interested in the striped boot-topping paint after one dip in your tank.

Yours, with a moderate amount of hair even aged 50 and greying after various engineering quals and worst of all tacking across Bavarias,

Andy
 
Last edited:
Even for a 25' boat there would need to be a tank nearly 9m long by 3m wide by 2m deep. 9*3*2=54 cubic metres. If I understood a previous post AF weighs double water for it's volume? So 54*2 makes 104 tons just of antifoul.
Thats one hell of a lorry to haul that. Add the weight of the dipping tank...
I'm not trying to mock your idea, but I'm interested in the 'hows'.

Don't forget there's a crane involved too for lifting, weighing and trimming.

Don't forget that when you put antifoul in a tray it starts to 'skin' within minutes ... I imagine a tankful of paint will do the same but at slightly larger cost!

Don't forget that with the weight of liquid involved (a 2.5 litre tin weighs 4.8 kilos) that the tank would need baffles to stop this leviathan toppling. They might just get in the way.

Don't forget that if the tank is full it would overflow when a boat is immersed in it , but if not deep enough, each successive dipping will make it more and more impossible to dip other/ deeper boats. This of course will mean that it has to travel with a minimum depth of what, 3 feet of antifoul at all times and then need recharging from a similar size vehicle which it probably tows.

I've still not had my quote.
 
Don't forget there's a crane involved too for lifting, weighing and trimming.

Don't forget that when you put antifoul in a tray it starts to 'skin' within minutes ... I imagine a tankful of paint will do the same but at slightly larger cost!

Don't forget that with the weight of liquid involved (a 2.5 litre tin weighs 4.8 kilos) that the tank would need baffles to stop this leviathan toppling. They might just get in the way.

Don't forget that if the tank is full it would overflow when a boat is immersed in it , but if not deep enough, each successive dipping will make it more and more impossible to dip other/ deeper boats. This of course will mean that it has to travel with a minimum depth of what, 3 feet of antifoul at all times and then need recharging from a similar size vehicle which it probably tows.

I've still not had my quote.

Not forgetting the ballast weights to make sure your boat sinks enough to get the coverage. And then you'll need something to protect the boat from all those weights - and then putting them on deck would make it all a bit top heavy .....................
 
Please DO keep feeding this troll! :cool:

Actually ...he's now been in touch, fully explained the system and given me a very reasonable quote.

I apologise for sounding just a bit sceptical and am now sure that the venture will be a success.
 
I've been re-thinking this project.

In principle, the idea of immersing an object such as a boat in a paint bath has much merit. I came across some developments in the car industry while researching S14's idea, and it seems that bath immersion is no longer the commercially favoured paint and protection process in vehicle production.

Spray booths with electro-static guns, all directed by robots, are the standard factory equipment nowadays (unless Full Circle has some newer devices up his sleeve :)).

If one thinks of a mobile spray booth (a series of curtained walls) and a semi-autonomous spraying robot, it is easy to develop S14's proposal into a scheme which loads/unloads from a flatbed truck (you have all seen the small fork lift trucks which hang like baby monkeys on the back of a lorry).

A large polytunnel is wheeled around the boat on the hard; the spray robot operator punches in the type and identification of the boat, connects up to drum(s) of antifouling paint (colours can be mixed or changed as desired), and an electrostatic belt attached temporarily to the boat to ensure that any particles of paint do not cross the line.

Press Button A (or whatever nomenclature the EU now insists upon) and stand back and watch the robot trundle untiringly round the boat, spraying precisely and accurately the right depth of paint to optimise the manufacturer's recommendations.

In a form of prequel to this Nautispray system, and similar robot could be equipped with a rotating head and abrasive pad to remove old A/F and residual weed, using an optical system to ensure that the finished surface is of a consistent pre-determined colour and hence not sanding away the gel coat.


I urge this forum to get behind the visionary S14 in this matter.



("Nautispray" and "Nauticlean" are protected trademarks, BTW :D)
 
Already being done.

Sounds like a crazy idea but it works fine. The biggest problem is that there's already a firm doing it with an artic out of Oban. Can't remember the firm's name, off hand. They perhaps already have some IP in the area as well.
 
Last edited:
Will it have a "B" button, that you can press to get your money back ?

(Younger members of the forum can scratch their heads in confusion)
It took me a few nano seconds to work that out! I just remember them...

Was in Éire about 30 years ago out in the west and found a wind up telephone on Valentia.
 
Top