Anti foul

[Chris H]

I’m thinking of putting our boat on the hard for a week or so to carry out a few jobs, under water lights and fit a more upto date depth sounder, whilst it’s out of the water we were thinking of stripping back the anti foul and re doing the whole process, on the survey we had done it mentioned the anti foul was uneven and could do with starting fresh.

I’ve been quoted £9k to blast the hull and £4K to anti foul, has anybody used a product that can be painted on then scraped off or light sanding ?

 

[Momac]

At those prices it must be a very large boat
I wet sanded my antifoul before applying fresh paint last winter. Eroding antifoul is relatively soft.

 

[mcanderson]

Chris,

Try a PM to Jimmythebuilder he had a contact at Antibes he used for antifouling and they had okay prices. I can’t remember who they are.

 

[oldgit]

At those prices it must be a very large boat
I wet sanded my antifoul before applying fresh paint last winter. Eroding antifoul is relatively soft.

+1

Unless there is several years worth of heavy uneven build up A/F on the boat and its usually bad , the effect on your top speed or fuel economy will be miniscule.
In the normal run of events any yard would just blast off the surface weed crustations etc with very powerful jet wash , possibly hand preparing minor patches of exposed gelcoat and then apply a new coat of A/F.

If it needs to look pretty then spend 13K, but as its all going to be under the water, not sure what the point would be !

Hope those lights are Lumishores

 

[mcanderson]

I am pretty sure it is Chantier Naval De Stefano +33 4 93 33 69 91

 

[Portofino]

You will end up no limbs at this rate Chris .
The yard ar Arie d boom holds up to twenty boats up to 80 ft .Over the past decade I have done a DIY re the annual .
Lived on the boat .So all eyes and ears .
An adjacent boat was once soda blasted , it involves curtains / tenting it and guy with a compressor + space suit .
Took him 3 days for a Montecarlo 30 to strip it .
Then the suggestion is to epoxy it because of the risk of gel coat perforation * before the AF goes on .
Got chatting a Dutch guy mobile , with a van tows his compressor etc .Then about 5 y ago quoted €40 sq meter to strip it only .
Saw many doing what you suggest whole family’s out full CSI suits a stool + some chemical gel + hand scrapers and sand paper .
Mostly all size boats .
Seems to work .
Would take the 4 of you 4/5 days 9 am - 6 pm to manually strip it .

Agrre with OG ^^ your surveyor will write that as CYA , ++++ much more BS it’s his job .
For me leave it until you can eye ball it yourself in a yard full of twenty of other on the hard to compare .

Soft AF on mine ( first time 2019 ) was tbo disappointing , washed off the bow areas due to the speed .
So we will go back to hard trad AF .

* You are opening up zillions of views on micro abrasive of the gel , porosity, which substrate = soda , coconut shells etc etc .
Then which and how many coats of epoxy .
Your €4 K should include 2x epoxy coats + a tact coat then 2x coats of AF .

To DIY , AF only apply another coat after a light wet rub down by hand your boat ( P 54 ) is a two to three day job for one Bloke .It goes on easy with a roller .
Paint cost I reckon €500_600 .About a grand or so for the week s lift / yard , call it €1500 ? and another € 3-500 for anodes , if you DIY .
+ Flights + car hire .

Ideally get the drive oil changed and new ram seals .My mate with Arnesons does this every year , I helped him once looked easy just a few 6 in all small hex grub screws to slide off the caps and replace the seals once the rams are disconnected.
Messy you end up blathered in hydraulic oil .That’s a two hefty Bloke job man handling them and you need some big spanner’s .

Advise
Wait a few seasons before a total strip .
Start basic DIY AF even it means a week off work - take a mate or son ?
Watch the ram seal guys and learn for next time .

 

[DAW]

I’ve been quoted £9k to blast the hull and £4K to anti foul, has anybody used a product that can be painted on then scraped off or light sanding ?

I had the same work done on a 2007 Sunseeker Portofino 53 (about 56ft) during the annual maintenance in 2017. After getting a couple of quotes, the costs for the option I selected (not the cheapest) were ... lift out/in and standing for 10 days €2.5K, blasting €4.5K, hull preparation and two coats of epoxy €2.0K. I was charged another €3.0K for the usual annual maintenance ... cleaning of stern gear, antifouling with two coats of Micron 77, replacement of anodes, etc. All of the above prices are ex-VAT.

Before I bought the boat, it had been anti-fouled every year by the previous owner with "hard" antifoul. The build-up on the hull was significant, the surface was quite rough and as I wanted to switch to Micron 77, I decided to go for the blasting option at the end of my first year of ownership. Consequently, I have a direct comparison of performance before and after blasting (both with clean bottom, freshly serviced engines, etc.). Its hard to be certain, but I think I gained 2 knots in top speed (from 32 to 34 knots) and fuel consumption at cruising speeds of 20-25 knots dropped by about 5-10%.

As an added bonus, the blasting revealed a number of areas on the hull where some attention was required. Nothing significant, but the sort of thing which if left untreated could have developed into problems over time. To their credit, despite the boat being 10 years old, Sunseeker took full responsibility and arranged for all gelcoat repairs to be done at their expense.

 

[Chris H]

I’ve checked the quotations, blast the hull with olive shells, 5200euro, apply anti foul 5800euro plus cleaning lifting and vat etc, I’ve another quote for lifting, cleaning and one coat of anti foul, 4500euro +tax.

Can these hard anti fouls be sanded down to a fairly smooth surface and then just add another coat ?

 

[Portofino]

Yes they can .

 

[DAW]

I’ve checked the quotations, blast the hull with olive shells, 5200euro, apply anti foul 5800euro plus cleaning lifting and vat etc, I’ve another quote for lifting, cleaning and one coat of anti foul, 4500euro +tax.

This year I paid €3900 + tax for lift, pressure wash, antifoul (two coats of Micron 350), acid cleaning of stern gear, replacement of anodes, etc. for a Sunseeker Predator 57. The boat was out of the water for four days. It was only one year old with 30 hours, so the bottom was in very good condition. The Micron 350 was applied directly on top of the hard antifoul applied by Sunseeker at the factory (after high-pressure cleaning, etc.).

 

[Chris H]

This year I paid €3900 + tax for lift, pressure wash, antifoul (two coats of Micron 350), acid cleaning of stern gear, replacement of anodes, etc. for a Sunseeker Predator 57. The boat was out of the water for four days. It was only one year old with 30 hours, so the bottom was in very good condition. The Micron 350 was applied directly on top of the hard antifoul applied by Sunseeker at the factory (after high-pressure cleaning, etc.).

That sounds reasonable, at that cost it doesn’t make sense getting my hands dirty !

Who was it with ?

 

[Portofino]

What a few do where i am now , Liguria is a two year haul out and in between a resident diver changes anodes and does a under water jet wash .Just a high pressure water jet no abrasive media in it .
This seems to blast off fouling and crucially loose AF so you end up with a smoother surface .

With the covid restrictions we skipped our yard haul out and having seen theses guys ( quite a lot of fouled boats ) go round i got them to do mine about July time ( last AF on the hard was May 19 ) Only €300 .
Snorkelling about later it was as smooth as ever .It have a bottle so did the anodes DIY under water .

Obviously it gonna need a lift next May ( Covid permitting?? ) been quoted € 2500 inc VAT for two coats + stern gear clean + something put on the props as well by the yard in the marina .It’s 15 M
They do SY s but the mayor with the planning etc made them have a little crane + space for the locals , mainly the fishermen.
The only thing due to H+S and insurance red tape you can’t DIY .
Thats a no brainier at that price so we will do that next time .A benefit of Italy .

 

[Whitlock]

I’m thinking of putting our boat on the hard for a week or so to carry out a few jobs, under water lights and fit a more upto date depth sounder, whilst it’s out of the water we were thinking of stripping back the anti foul and re doing the whole process, on the survey we had done it mentioned the anti foul was uneven and could do with starting fresh.

I’ve been quoted £9k to blast the hull and £4K to anti foul, has anybody used a product that can be painted on then scraped off or light sanding ?

I have scraped off anti foul with a 1" chisel. It breaks up into fine powder so you need a good mask and goggles.