Antifoul removal - is it worth doing?

[Talulah]

For those people who either stripped the antifouling themselves or paid to have the hull blasted was it worth doing?
I am considering stripping the layers built up over the years but does it make any difference to either the hull or the performance? What's your feeling now that you've had time to reflect on the work done? Would you do it again?
Thanks in advance.

 

[LittleShip]

Yep but use one of these..............

www.gelplane.co.uk/proscraper/product.asp

Tom

 

[jonathankent]

I did that this winter.... took me 3 or 4 days of scraping/sanding it back. However, IMHO I believe it was worth it.... don't know if it has made a lot of difference to boat performance (I've only had the boat a year and not clocked up too many miles), but it has deffinitely given the bottom a smooth finish. There was about 4 layers of old antifouling on there and had become very uneven. It gave me great satisfaction after taking it right back and then having a perfect smooth finish. IMHO, I would take the time and do it... it will be better in the long run.

 

[simonfraser]

if you measure your performance to the nearest half knot yes, otherwise you are wasting your time.

& if you are going to scrape it off to make it smooth / save weight, you'll have to start looking at all the other bits on the boat . . .

 

[jonathankent]

Well if I manage to get an extra half knot, that it is a 10% speed gain for me /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

I haven't done it to save weight etc etc, I needed to redo the a/f anyway and thought that whilst at it I might aswell go the whole hog and take it right back... didn't cost anymore, other than my time.

 

[pmyatt]

Geoff Pack, a former editor of Yachting Monthly, used to say that antifouling should not be removed until such time as it had created a step large enough to be used by a man-overboard to climb aboard unassisted.

 

[moondancer]

He must have won a lot of races.

 

[Modulation]

I did it on my last boat and gained about 3/4 of a knot - not bad for a 26 footer. It might not sound a lot but FEELS a hell of a lot quicker. Even though I have no interest in racing (why replicate the rat race in your leisure time?) I still want my boat to perform well.
I think its well worth it, if you have the time. I used a chemical remover - not the International one - which meant I completed the job in 2 days. Messy work though.

 

[William_H]

I seriously doubt you would get a speed increase from removing old A/F as compared to simply painting over the old build up. You certainly get a huge improvement of new A/F over build up of weed.
Yes it is a terrible job. If you have doubts then don't do it.

It will become obvious it is necessary when the step of old A/F built up at the water line begins to chip off leaving an uneven step. Or when you get A/F removed in patches leaving a marked step in the surface. A perfect build up would hardly be noticeable and probably no detriment but an imperfect build up will begin to get at your sense of rightness and you will eventually have to remove it.

So if you are going to keep the boat and have the urge then sooner is better than later. Try caustic soda to soften paint but be carefull it burns.(it disolves horse hair brushes so use nylon) good luck olewill