Antifoul colour

[tom52]

Apologies in advance if this is a relly stupid question and I am missing something obvious.

Why does everyone always use the same colour a/f every year?

Aren't there some advantages to distinguishing the annual layers and seeing how much disappears over a season ?

Using the same colour is presumabley not for aesthetic reasons since the a/f is almost always out of sight.

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[tcm]

Its personal preference, really, and once they have found their preference, they stick with it, it seems. The strongest stuff is black, and imho the black antifoul means that the bottom "disappears" from view - so I use that. But others like blue, or red, or even white. But all of these show the gunge a lot more.


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[andy_wilson]

Paint the boats name in a different colour, letters a foot high, 6 inches below the water line.

They will be fully visible all the way from close hauled to a close reach, and even beam reaching if your sails are a bit baggy.

And if the keel falls off.

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[snowleopard]

what do you paint on the bottom?

in my case (cat) dayglow orange stripes.

how about-

'Other way up'

'YADYAM'

???

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[MADFISH]

Believe it or not, colour has a bearing on the effectiveness of antifoul. The reason is the darker the colour, the more active ingredients can be added. In other words, the darker, the better.

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[AndrewB]

\"The strongest stuff is black\"

Is that really true? Why haven't the yottie mag tests been telling us?

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[claymore]

For my part purely aesthetic - we have a white hull and pale grey decks so the pale grey boot top matches that and the blue looks fine although we try not to show too much of that!
I suppose also the blue also reflects the crystal clear blue scottish waters in which we sail!

<hr width=100% size=1>regards
Claymore
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[MADFISH]

Re: \"The strongest stuff is black\"

Completely true. Apparantly black can contain 25% more active ingredients than white!

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[Aeolus_IV]

Alternate Anti-foul Colouring

Had suggested to the my partner that we do this (red and blue alternate years), but it was suggested that the boat looked better with a red bottom. So red anti-foul has been bought.

/forums/images/icons/smile.gif, Jeff.

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[byron]

<font color=blue>Can you just whack Black on top of whats already there or does one have to totally remove the existing stuff?

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[MADFISH]

As long as you have a good surface, just wack it on with a roller.

This info was given to me by a rep from Blakes Paints. Please feel free to check it out for yourself.

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[tcm]

well, it has to be yer know clean and dry so the stuff sticks, lash around with a pressure wotist , and a power wire brush but mainly yes, we just bunged it on, all fine. Very smart in the water, but i admit it looks horrific out of the water

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[tcm]

Re: \"The strongest stuff is black\"

Ooh, I didn't know it was a secret. Everybody just said aharr, the strongest stuff is black, also it looks fine all year, unless you are taking it to a dry boat show when it's a bit much to look at and white looks better.

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[snowleopard]

ask international...

i have seen a table they published which shows what can go on top of what (always assuming the new coating is one of theirs).

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[EdEssery]

Darker is better - not according to my sources...

A couple of weekends ago I was working on my boat and fell into conversation with the guy anti-fouling the boat next to mine. I asked him what sort of anti-fouling he was using. "Blakes", he says "I have to - I work for them, unfortunately this (dark blue) is the only colour I could get to use on my own boat"

"Unfortunately?" says I

"Yes, around here (Southampton), the lighter the colour the better it works - doesn't attract as much growth"

On my next trip to the Chandlery I changed my 5 litres of medium blue for 5 litres of light grey/off white -- we shall see!

I suspect that the darker colours may indeed have more biocide but possibly only 'cos they need it thus making them less eco-friendly than light colours.

Ed

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[MADFISH]

We need some sort of bio chemist to let us all know.

Anyone out there who can give us the definitive answer??

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[vyv_cox]

I asked International this question about four years ago, mainly because we prefer the look of the boat with a grey or white A/F, as it extends about 3 inches above the water line. They told me there is no difference.

I suspect that "Trawler red" bought from a fishing boat chandler will be stronger as they work under different rules from us and probably wouldn't accept the useless rubbish that we are forced to put up with. Unfortunately IMHO it looks dreadful.

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[timevans2000]

one of the mags did at test a year or so age. They concluded that colour made no diffence.
My antifouling is grey. The chap next to me used black. We both had the same manufacturers antifouling. We both had the same amount of slime build up mid season. I know cos we both snorkeled around the boats when we were moored in a local bay and cleaned the bottoms off.

Colour doesnt make any difference! With dark colours you just dont notice the slime as much!

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[Grehan]

Ante-fouling, post-fouling

We changed from a navy blue bottom to a red bottom this year.
Just fancied a change although why we should care about the colour of something that above all has to be functional and is hidden from view (most of the time) is beyond me (and it was my idea!).

Finished yesterday and the whole thing looks dead tiddly, Seajet trawler red with navy boot top lines.

The colour change does indeed highlight missed bits.
And the old stuff mingles with the new stuff, so you do get a bit of 'grinning through'.

I also polished the prop clean and coated with lanolin.

Now we'll see how that lot performs!

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