Antifouling

mdonnelly

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14 Dec 2003
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Had planned to strip to gelcoat, dryout over winter and then epoxy. Contacted a surveyor before starting who advised to call him when stripping finished. Thankfully he visited when almost 70% completed. his opinion was that hull too wet and would require gel coat removal etc etc. Therefore am going to put her back in for forthcoming season and get advised work done over next winter. For now, can I just antifoul on top of gelcoat or do I need to prime? thanks for advice
 
Galadriel is absolutely right. I once antifouled over after a fully cured Gelshield treatment (on the advice of the people who did the work) and the antifoul just flaked off within days.
 
When you buy your antifoul, see what the swindlrey recommend. For instance, if you use International, use Primcon. Or if its Blakes use theirs. If however the antifoul has no associated primer, see what it says on the tin.
 
International Primacon is a normalising prima,Ie it can be put over other manufacturers antifoul paints to neutralise them.
One coat prima plus antifoul will be ok for one season.
I had similar problem and if you are going to keep the boat consider doing it properly, I had my boat hull sandblasted off (£380 for a 28' boat)
Then after dry out period lightly sanded over,wash off and applied 3 coats of differant coloured Gelcoat over 10 days( you need to put the second coat on as soon as the first coat is dry if possible,otherwise you will need to lightly sand between coatings.
Gel coat is best applied above 5 deg C,never mix a lot at the same time, above 10 deg is just as bad it goes off quick.
I found International went on easier
2 x coats of Prima Con
1 x coat Antifoul.
Boat antifoul after 2 years in sea water was fine and just needed antifouling next season.
PS I do not work for International Paints: it's just experiance
 
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