Anti-fouling from Scratch

[Guest]

I’m looking for some advice on anti-fouling, & hopefully this seems to be the right type of place.

We are buying our first brand new boat this year. As I’m sure some of you will be able to appreciate this has meant some pretty severe financial restrictions placed on me by the wife.

The Boat is a Hanse 341 & is due for delivery in Oct/Nov, (gives us more time to do some saving). We are pretty much up to our budget with the price of the boat inc. extras etc.., moorings, insurance that will need to be paid in Oct/Nov.

What we haven’t got in the deal is the Antifouling extra, which at £850, seemed quite steep. We thought we could do it ourselves, and then definitely know what is protecting the boat. We only had our first boat a year & it was anitfouled when we bought it & OK when it was sold so this is new to us.

Does anyone have any advice for first time anti-fouling on new boats? & also, as I work away, time/other obligations may prevent me doing it around Oct/Nov. Would it do much/any damage if the boat was put in the water & used over the winter & then antifouled early the following year, when the weather & our financial state improves.

The boat is to be kept in Liverpool Marina, & used in the Mersey/Irish Sea, if this helps any replies.

I realise that this is a little early given the delivery date, however, if it’s a really bad idea to put the boat in without anti-fouling for the first few months we may have to do some re-planning.

Any advice is very much appreciated.

Thanks, Matt.

 

[billskip]

Mat welcome to the bb... you will get a lot of usefull advise and it will drift in over the next 7 days but for now as it seems pretty quiet..(think they have all gone to try eachothers suggestions)...have a click on the serch and you will find a lot of info about antifoul...dont remember about a "virgin bottom" tho

Bill
www.aegeansailing.co.uk

 

[theduke]

it would be easier to antifoul before you launch, there was a post yesterday about powerwashing new gelcote and how it wasnt recommended,so you would have to be careful how you cleaned the hull once the boat had been left in the water without antifoul, on the plus side,it is going to be in the water at the time of year when marine growth will be at its least active and it will also show the boats true waterline .

 

[oldsaltoz]

Re: Anti-fouling

G’day matt101.
Welcome to the PBO club (Poor Boat Owners club). Putting the boat into the water for some months will mean a lot more work to get it clean enough for new paint to be applied; the amount of work required will depend entirely on the water quality you shiny new boat is in. Best to ask some of the locals what sort of growth rate you can expect in the area.
Applying the first coat of antifouling is the most important, particularly if you don’t want large bits of it falling away leaving a patchy finish later, the flaking bay go on for several seasons if the first coat is not applied properly.
Good results are achieved by first applying a water resistant (None are waterproof) coat of paint that will act as a bond for the antifoul; the antifoul must be applied before the base coat dries. This ensures a complete bond between hull, inter-coat, and antifoul.
A number of Internet sites cover this in detail, I.e.: -

http://www.yachtpaint.com/intropage.htm

http://catalog.com/bobpone/

You have time on your side, use it well and avagoodweekend. Old Salt Oz……

 

[castaway]

You need to find out if the hull has been primed or not, and if the manufactured has included this in the quote for afouling.

When I had a new hull 10 yrs back I primed it, then Afouled it with soft (eroding) stuff of good quality, which was power washed at the end of each season. This prevented any build up of old layers of porous paint (hard Afouling)which eventually will flake away.

If the hull is straight out of the mould it will have to be very carefully cleaned to remove any traces of mould release agent. If any of this remains yr paint will simply drop off..

Regards Nick

 

[Strathglass]

Why not ask what you get for your £850 first. This will tell you the following.

1. Do they use a solvent to clean the hull first ?.
2. Do they apply antifouling primer ?.
3. How many coats of antifouling ?.
4. What make and type of antifouling ?

From that you will be able to determine their material costs- much less then half of £850 I am sure.

Antifouling is easy and quick to apply using 4" rollers (a/f resistant) on a radiator type painting handle.
Look at www.yachtpaint.com for instructions on how to do it.
Ask where the yacht is to be berthed which antifouling works best.
The most difficult but most important task is to get the masking tape for the waterline straight. If necessary find someone to do this for you.
You could wear a disposable coverall or a disposable dust suit (£1.15/£5.99 from Screwfix) and disposable gloves for protection from splashes.
This is one of the tasks that most owners do themselves.
Hope this helps, Iain

 

[ccscott49]

£850 sounds a lot, but taking into consideration, the cost of an epoxy primer and putting it on, flatting first and then flatting the epoxy, then a couple of coats of antifoul, you start to see where the money goes. I personally wouldnt put the boat in the water for a winter without some bottom protection, but I'm sure there will be other ideas. Hope this helps, I have no real knowledge of painting a glass boat from new, but that is what I would expect the builder to do.

 

[davidwf]

Don't worry about the waterline being absolutely straight, once the boat is in the water you'll not notice it. In any case most new boats come with a stripe about 1 or 2 inch's above the waterline.

Just bought Two cans of Optima at £82 each, this is enough just for a 32 ft Dufour. My boat was degreased and had a primer prior to the antifouling I've lost details of how much that cost but it was no where near what you've been quoted.

Both Blakes and International sell a degreaser that you can use prior to the primer so doing the job yourself will only really take 3 days including the primer and drying time.

 

[longjohnsilver]

Hi Matt and welcome.

I would agree with Colin, above. I would also seriously consider epoxying the hull from new if it's not already done, this will not only help to prevent osmosis at a later date but will also be a strong seeling point if and when you get to that stage.

I would most certainly not put the boat in the water with no antifoul, it will come out looking like a marine garden, not to be recommended. As to antifoul I have used Jotun for some time (as have others hereabouts) and not only is it one of the cheapest but also in my opinion just about the best. If you shop around the actual paint should not cost more than £100, if you do apply epoxy then this will cost a lot more.

As others have said, ask the yard what you get for your £850 and then shop around.

Good luck.