Antifouling

[coliholic]

Visited the Dutch Navy repair yard today in Holland and they're doing some repair work on one of their submarines and it's out of the water in a big shed, not a dry dock. One of their frigates was in the dry dock. This is like a huge boat lift and the sub floats on to a sunken cradle which they then lift up out the water and manoeuvre either around the yard or into the shed depending on what they're doing. But back to the plot

They don't antifoul any of their ships, mainly for environmental reasons. Had real close up look at the sub and of course it's all painted black but the finish is almost like a rubbery type surface. Quite smooth and spongey to the touch. Negligible marine growth on it and it's been moored up on the quayside for the past couple of months and there was no trace of weed or any other slime or anything. The guy showing me round didn't know what they use instead of a\f, just that tthey're not allowed to use a\f anymore.

Anyone know what stops the weed growing on it and is there any mileage in this approach for us?

 

[mtb]

Re: radio active

Has the sub got a nuc reactor ,does your hand now glow in the dark !!
must have been cool wandering around the yard seeing things on a huge scale
Mick

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/boats
I want a big steel ex trawler / tug v/cheep or swap for tug

 

[oldgit]

Re:Believe it or not

One of me relatives who is in on one of these things reckons the radiation does for all the marine growths?
so all you need is to keep a big bucket of some of that missing russian plutoniun aboard your boat.never need scrub again ever.

 

[coliholic]

Re:Believe it or not

Ah but they're not nuclear subs, so only radiation is from the sonar and techy stuff. And what about the frigates and other ships, they're treated the same I think. No don't buy that one, sorry.

 

[tcm]

Re:Believe it or not

1 There wasn't any weed in the area.

2 The submarine spends ages underwater, and it's now dec jan so no weed, cept in river wissey full of fertiliser

3 Ornery antifould contains mustard seeds etc, to ensure weed growth and continued repeat sales of antifoul.

4 Lots of little dutch sailors scrub the boat regularly at 6 am long before you are awake and rush down to the marina for an early morning swim.

5 The rubbery stuff is advanced weed growth gone all matted and black.

6 the weed seeds bounce off the rubber stuff and can't grip on.

7 The big black thing in a dutch marina was a large fender, not a submarine.

 

[Guest]

This sounds like the product being produced by International called Veridian which is currently recommended for use on aluminiun props and outdrives. I saw it at the London Show and yes it does appear to be soft and has a rubbery texture. Apparantly although barnacles etc will adhere to it they are unable to get a firm grip and wash off easily. I bet the Dutch don't pay £55 for a small tin though - at that rate it would probaly cost more than the submarine.