Antifouling for mud berth recomendations

[solent clown]

As the title suggests, do you chaps have any particular recommendations for antifouling for a yacht on a soft mud berth at an upriver point of the solent (Itchen opposite Shamrock)

 

[VicS]

As the title suggests, do you chaps have any particular recommendations for antifouling for a yacht on a soft mud berth at an upriver point of the solent (Itchen opposite Shamrock)

A high strength hard type of antifouling such as Hempel Hard Racing

 

[solent clown]

Thanks, first job when the new (old) yacht arrives this weekend.

 

[rotrax]

We winter at Hayling Yacht Co., on very soft mud for 6 months, sailing most of the other 6.

I was lucky enough to aquire 20 litres of Jotun Seaqueen. This is a hard antifoul for ships. Not easy to get now.

1 year on it looks perfect. The only season with ANY of our boats over the last 12 years where we have not had a waterline fringe.

So far, so good................................

 

[Seajet]

My boat lives on a soft mud drying mooring; I always used International elf eroding* stuff, either Micron or Cruiser, but the results with Cruiser the season before last were so bad I tried Blakes ( Tiger or Titan I forget, but the more expensive self eroding one ) - the results were WAY better, very pleasantly surprised.

* I always use eroding paint as stripping off layers of old antifouling is the worst job in sailing - even the eroding stuff doesn't completely go so a layer builds up, but over many more years.

 

[Dukester52]

Daft question- do you actually need antifouling where you are? I've had a very small boat up a drying creek on the Humber for years, and never had a problem...

 

[solent clown]

I dont know! We have been trailer sailors until a couple of months ago so it has never been an issue. That's why I am asking the question really

 

[Dukester52]

Might be worth asking one of your new neighbours if they use antifouling and if so what works best for them... different antifouls work more/less effectively depending where you are... On our 20ft Hurley I just used the silver primer/undercoat stuff last year, rather than antifoul, because I felt she deserved a lick of paint...

 

[neil_s]

Difficult. My experience is that any antifoul on the parts of the boat that get immersed in the mud stops working very quickly and goes black. The good part of this is that only barnacles grow here. I favour cheap erodible (Hempel's Cruising Performer) and have a scrub off in August.

 

[smert]

I used Tiger Extra when we were at Kemps, and there wasn't a lot of growth despite only having been used a few times during the year. The rudder got pretty slimey, but I think that might have been down to it getting done last and probably didn't get a decent thickness of AF!

 

[Seajet]

Difficult. My experience is that any antifoul on the parts of the boat that get immersed in the mud stops working very quickly and goes black. The good part of this is that only barnacles grow here. I favour cheap erodible (Hempel's Cruising Performer) and have a scrub off in August.

I've been waiting for someone to say or suggest this must happen !

Interesting you're in Chichester too; yes the mud at my mooring is black or at east nasty dark grey if one tries to walk on it - much too soft and dangerous - maybe it's because my boat is reasonably - but not especially for 22' - light, and that the large ballast bulb sinks into the mud and supports much of the hull clear - the skeg and the hull around say a 3' radius of the ballast bulb are in contact with the mud.

I use white antifoul and it still looks OK ( I think ) though by end of season may have stained light brown around the contact area mentioned - of course if I was bothered, say a special effort was going to be made to photograph the boat, a quick go with a long handled brush from the dinghy would bring back the pure white.

The Blakes antifoul worked brilliantly for about 5 months then seemed to suddenly give up, presumably the chemicals were expended, and fouling suddenly appeared around the waterline, even a good brushing didn't revive it's ' anti ' properties - but compared to the last International Cruiser paint the year before it was a roaring success.

 

[neilf39]

When I kept my Vivacity in Emsworth pool the antifoul went black where it says in the mud and stopped working after a couple of months. Barnacles loved it. The bits not in the mud were fine. I was using Tiger Extra. I still do now I am in a marina so don't sit in the mud.

 

[solent clown]

Maybe I should treat this as a research opportunity. I think I will simply paint one side, then try a few different antifoulings on the other side, and report back in a few months. Nothing to lose but the hull looking a bit patchy for a while.
If anyone has a bit of antifoul left over that would do as a test patch give me a shout, it would be interesting to get several different types on there for a proper test.

 

[Seajet]

I'm afraid that won't work !

At my moorings, while I've proven by aerial photo's of the keel marks in the mud that the boats do describe 360 degrees as the tide & wind change, they generally lay SW-NE so one side always grows a bit more fouling than the other, usually the port side.

Years ago the Admiralty had their Paint Stagings in Langstone Harbour, basically hollow rafts with loads of steel plates a few inches apart which could be lowered into the water to see which paint got on best.

Of course the chances for chemical interaction made it pretty silly and the MOD wisely binned them long ago leaving it to paint suppliers to do the research - a couple of the rafts are still there, last I heard one belonged to Portsmouth Uni' Marine Metallurgy Unit, but what they or the owners of the other raft hope to gain remains a mystery.

 

[MOBY2]

Hi, I used seajet as recommended in pbo for chi harbour same place as Seajet, wasn't that impressed so went for tiger and better and cheaper, but not perfect, am going to try premier stuff as similar price, one word if advice don't put it on too early ior it will lose its oomph before she goes in, unfortunately due to EU and pollution regs its got not much oomph these days, sure its all sent to fisons for additives to encourage growth before we get it.