Antifouling over Coppercoat

Tradewinds

Tradewinds

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www.laurelberrystudio.com
Son launched new-to-him boat at the beginning of May. Hull is Coppercoated (9 years) and looked nice and green at launch.

We've been busy fettling so the boat has not moved - and it's been a long, hot summer (yippee).

By July the bottom was (& still is) like a reef with hard growth.

So, we're hauling out next week and the plan is pressure wash then antifoul straight on top of the CC.


I'd like advice from those who have done this.


Is it a case of a gentle abrade (or not) and then apply or do you need a primer?

I've done a search of the forum a while ago and seem to recall that you can apply A/F directly on top of the CC.

All advice on the process gratefully received.

TIA


PS. Please don't post about what we should do with the CC to get it working - the decision has been made.
 
I'm doing exactly the same after 4 years of my Coppercoat getting worse and worse despite annual scrubbing and abrading with scotchbrite.

This was the lift out in May 2018:

IMG_6249.JPG


After that we had a pressure wash and then scraped every single inch of hull with metal scrapers (we had used plastic scrapers in Spring 2017) and then scoured every inch with genuine Scotchbrite. When I dived under the boat a couple of weeks ago, only 4 months after that total abrade, the fouling is even worse than in the photo. :(

I cannot carry on like this as every year it gets worse so I emailed Coppercoat who suggested that I abrade the entire hull with an orbital sander rather than using Scotchbrite but this just doesn't seem right. Why is it getting worse every year? Fresh copper should be forming at the surface after 4 years of immersion and annual scraping but, if it is, it clearly doesn't discourage the Adriatic tube worms.

Anyway, Coppercoat confirmed that the coating can simply be pressure washed and any remaining fouling mechanically removed and then simply coated with conventional antifoul which will adhere.

That's many thousands of Pounds written off! :ambivalence:

Richard
 
Last edited:
Just to lend weight to your decision: I applied international micron to old coppercoat 5 years ago, without any special treatment or primer, and have had no problems with adhesion or otherwise.
 
And just to add my ten pence worth: I too had this problem where the professionally applied Coppercoat wasn't working. It was about 7 years old and didn't work in either proper seawater (Brighton marina) or brackish water (Portsmouth: Wicormarine).

A proper jet wash followed by a quick rub down with wet & dry and painted over with 2 coats of International Micron antifouling.

What a difference! The antifouling stayed clear from March until mid August when I had a quick scrub by Sealift. Leaving just the Coppercoat exposed, the season's fouling started at this point...

Yes, I was happy with the overcoating with no antifouling primer. It stuck properly and worked well. I'd be happy to do it again.
 
I have had CC on my boat since new and have now tired of swimming / scraping the hulls twice a year .
So 2 years ago I scrubbed it clean and painted on the local anti foul no more
scraping - works a treat and now have the great benefit of the boat being epoxy/ Coppercoated from new so no boat pox !
Overall happy with the protection it gave but it does lose effectiveness over the years .
 
hi sorry I've got to start again as the cat walked over the keyboard. My previous boat, a Westerley, had been coated with coppercoat or copperbot, can't remember which, when I bought her. I believe the job was carried out properly even to the extent of constructing a heated temporary building around her whilst it was been done. However, I became fed up with trying to abrade this stuff each winter and decided to apply antifouling after giving the hull a bit of a rub over with abrasive paper. No problems, the antifouling adhered perfectly well and all seemed ok. However, after 3 or 4 seasons the boat started to get osmosis which, as the carrier for this stuff is, I believe, epoxy really shouldn't have happened. Now, I've got no idea whether or not the two things are related, just offering my experience.
 
Previous owner of my MoBo had boat C/C but gave up on it. .Jetwashed and painted with a very basic budget soft Hemel A/F shortly after my purchase of boat. No primer . Jetwashed professionaly at marina 12 months later and and all A/F remained on. Jetwashed again this year with extremely powerful club powerwasher and did manage to knock off a few square inches of A/F, exposing C/C underneath. Abraded exposed surface and applied ordinary A/F as normal.
 
I'm sure there are 100's of people perfectly happy with Coppercoat which works well for them.

This post wasn't about that - it was about covering old Coppercoat with conventional antifoul.

Start your own thread if you want a discussion on the merits or not of CC.

Thanks.
 
Not Coppercoat, but some kind of Copper expoy alternative. It was poor. The image shows how my boat finished last season after being cleaned well at the start of it.

I sanded it down (took a days using 36 grit), then applied Seajet primer, then Seajet 032. A little brush at the end of the season and I have nice clean bottom.


29425250_1617228231679186_564337610110009344_o.jpg

29497263_1617228128345863_8356761393025777664_o.jpg
 
Tradewinds said:
I'm sure there are 100's of people perfectly happy with Coppercoat which works well for them.

This post wasn't about that - it was about covering old Coppercoat with conventional antifoul.

Start your own thread if you want a discussion on the merits or not of CC.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

Dear chap, It's a forum. :D
 
Tradewinds said:
I know - and you like to troll.
Click to expand...

Actually, I was thinking exactly the same as NormanS.

Yes threads do drift and no it's not your thread, it's ours. I think your question has been answered, so no harm in the discussion moving on. No different to a discussion between friends in a pub.

Pete
 
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