Another "which antifouling" thread...

[Iain C]

OK, here's the details:

Boat-Sabre 27 fin keel cruiser
Kept-Swinging mooring in Portsmouth harbour, very much "in the mud" at LWS but not actually dry
Use-Approx every other weekend in the summer, plus a few weeks away here and there. She will stay in the water over winter 2012/13
Current A/F-Black International Micron Extra. Applied for the first time over fresh VC Tar in 2009, scrubbed winter 2010, re-applied again at start of 2011 season. Usual drill of 2 coats, plus extra on leading edges/vicinity of prop.

Basically, I've had pretty good results with Micron Extra, which is self polishing, but I've now joined a club with scrubbing grid so I intend to scrub off at least once during the season, and I guess an HP hose will just blast a lot of the self polishing A/F away (I never scrubbed off mid season before, just jumped over the side with a brush once...). Would I be better off switching to a cheaper, hard A/F, and if so, do I need to scrape every trace of the Micron Extra off before applying it?

Or do I just persevere with the Micron Extra?

Thanks!

 

[pvb]

Do you think you'll need to scrub mid-season? If so, if you do it very gently you might not remove much Micron.

The beauty of an eroding antifoul like Micron is that you don't get a build-up of an increasingly thick layer of dead paint.

If you decide to go for a hard antifouling, it would be best to remove as much Micron as possible first. I find it comes off quite easily using a plastic pan scourer and a running hosepipe.

 

[onesea]

I would put one on at beginning of season and one at the scrub. I find I get less build up and can reply where necessary. The second coat does not take that long.
Then I sail all year round and have found that works best for me. If not come the spring I would be weedy as..

 

[Stemar]

It you find one that works, please tell me!

Similar mooring, similar place & I've never found anything that works. I've finally decided not to bother any more, just scrub off when necessary. With the club grid & jetwash, it's a tenner a scrub, so I reckon I'll be quids in compared with £80 for something that might work on a deep water mooring but, for where I am, ought to say Growmore on the tin!

 

[Pete7]

Iain, we are a bit further down the harbour from you. Always used Uno in the past but this season tried Sea jet 33. Not convinced it was worth the extra money as I needed 2 complete tins against the 1.5 of Uno, which is in bigger tins. So we are back to Uno in the Spring. It does need a mid season scrub around the water line, but if the boat is used regularly the rest stays clean bar a bit of slime, oh and it will tolerate a mild scrub.

Percy M See in Fareham is probably the cheapest place to buy it. He seems to stock it by the pallet load, but don't tell anyone its a locals only thing

Pete

 

[Stu Jackson]

While it's important to compare the validity of different paints with the neighbors in your harbor, I have found that the most effective way to reduce slime on the hull is to use the boat. Until I broke my leg skiing three years ago we used the boat weekly and had no buildup. While "getting back in the groove" (I had a second unexpected surgery when the original titanium plate they put in my leg broke, making recovery that much longer for my leg muscles) we haven't used the boat as often. For the first time in years we've seen some growth on the waterline, this only nine months after a new bottom job. Use it or it starts to grow.

 

[William_H]

Antifoul paint

I can't tell you what to use. However as a matter of interest in a far away place....antipodes.
I was involved with pulling RIBs out of the water after ISAF international sailing championships during the week.
They had been constantly in the water for 20 days. Without A/F paint in each case there was significant build up of slime and the beginnings of hard shell fish growth. It took a scouring pad to remove the shell fish. For my own boat I got about 6 weeks of early spring out of the new antifouling paint before it became necessary to wipe the slime off. Now it is necessary to wipe it down before each race or once per week. at least the water is not cold.
So don't complain about a/f not working. It really makes a difference here. olewill

 

[aslabend]

in response to the op.

Similar place (Portsmouth swinging ), similar dilemma. I've used Cruiser Uno on my Nic 26 last three seasons and on the whole have been reasonably satisfied. I get quite a bit of slime on the hull which is easily brushed off with a soft brush lashed to the boat hook and I get a bit of weed at the waterline by the end of the season. I've often thought of going with a hard fouling and scrubbing off once, twice a season but without any real experience of this type of anti-foul, I've never done it. Cruiser uno comes in nice big tins (usually find it discounted somewhere) and is easy to apply and seems to do the job pretty well. Regular use is definitely key with ablative anti-fouls.