Bandit
Well-Known Member
The fouling on the Aquacote shown above after one year and after second year will have a very substantial effect on speed and fuel used to maintain that speed.
Aquacote foul release year 1 review
- Thread starter wellf100
- Start date
MapisM
Well-Known Member
As if it were unimportant...
Judging from the video, you could easily clean the whole thing with a sponge, during a short(ish) dive.
And making a bit of exercise, while you are at that. Can't see what's there not to like!
Unless the dive should be in muddy and cold water, of course - but such scenario just doesn't exist down here...
jfm
Well-Known Member
If this paint can be made to stick to props (maybe with a primer?) then it could be a great product/holy grail, so I'm staying tuned. I just relaunched my boat last week after its annual service and if I had know about this product (ie, if I had paid attention) I would have used some on the props.
Hurricane
Well-Known Member
We relaunched last week after 3 days in the boatyard.
This was the state at the lift - (BTW the Coppercoat is doing its job - after 5 seasons)
And this was just before relaunch.
So, you can see, we have been through ALL the different treatments.
The big problem that I have is that when you paint the props, not all of the paint comes off during the season's use.
Most of it does (so it is no good painting them anyway) but the stuff that IS left is a ?astard to get off prior to another treatment.
So, I just polish and rely on a mid season lift to pressure/acid wash off.
vas
Well-Known Member
in the middle of email discussions with Steven from aquamarine, been advised they have a 2-3 week lead time for products going to EU, 8-10 days for UK, so need to plan ahead. Seems that MiToS will be out in 3-4 weeks so I plan to order this week.
The amazing fact is that it seems to stick to props and stay there
, that's #1, #2 is if it can do some work, seems it does, so worth trying on props and shafts, may combine with Velox on rudders and trim tabs. Definitely not going back to the useless TKwhatever clear spray I used last year!
cheers
V.
wellf100
Well-Known Member
Hi all, yep all good points:
jfm - yes you are quite right, and if anyone is looking at their options then you need to consider exactly these things. One thing i would add is that the company have never claimed (to me at least) that it's a maintenance free holy grail. Before i went ahead with it they made it clear over the phone that to get the best out of it you need to keep it clean. In fact they said ideally a once a month clean is needed. I was surprised the fouling was not a lot worse given that I had only cleaned it once during the whole year. When i went out for a blast in Feb it was definitely down about 3 or 4 knots however with only 75hp on tap maybe the effects are magnified?..I've no idea. However in year 1 when i was able to use the boat a lot more I just had a swim around to wipe it clean once a month (during the summer only!) which meant no loss in performance during that time.
To really catch on I think Aquamarine could perhaps provide some kind of deal including a few lift and scrubs or diver cleaning. But maybe that's not viable or practical.
Hopefully the review establishes that it does what it's supposed to do. Then it's up to anyone else to decide whether its for them. For me I was primarily looking for something that was multiyear as i had to remove all the old antifoul when i bought the boat which was a horrible job. At the time this product was less than half the cost of DIY coppercoat and even a bit less than traditional primer and antifoul. So I decided to give it a try....especially given how easy it is to apply.
Hurricane - i was thinking exactly the same regarding the prop treatment. This could be the product that really catches on given the much greater forces acting on the fouling and hopefully giving much better self cleaning. As you say will be v. interesting to see Jez and others findings.
Bandit - Having removed the base and finish coat around where my old transducer was I can tell you it's at least as 'easy' to remove as old antifoul. In fact it was much easier than the old flaking antifoul that was on it originally. It's removed using a scrapper or orbital sander with 80 or 120 grit without issue as it's quite soft. Feel free to come and have a look! FYI - Quay yachts in Jersey are the CI agents and have done about 12 CI boats this year including a Windy 37 that's come over here. Would be interesting to find out how they get on (don't know which marina they are in).
jfm - yes you are quite right, and if anyone is looking at their options then you need to consider exactly these things. One thing i would add is that the company have never claimed (to me at least) that it's a maintenance free holy grail. Before i went ahead with it they made it clear over the phone that to get the best out of it you need to keep it clean. In fact they said ideally a once a month clean is needed. I was surprised the fouling was not a lot worse given that I had only cleaned it once during the whole year. When i went out for a blast in Feb it was definitely down about 3 or 4 knots however with only 75hp on tap maybe the effects are magnified?..I've no idea. However in year 1 when i was able to use the boat a lot more I just had a swim around to wipe it clean once a month (during the summer only!) which meant no loss in performance during that time.
To really catch on I think Aquamarine could perhaps provide some kind of deal including a few lift and scrubs or diver cleaning. But maybe that's not viable or practical.
Hopefully the review establishes that it does what it's supposed to do. Then it's up to anyone else to decide whether its for them. For me I was primarily looking for something that was multiyear as i had to remove all the old antifoul when i bought the boat which was a horrible job. At the time this product was less than half the cost of DIY coppercoat and even a bit less than traditional primer and antifoul. So I decided to give it a try....especially given how easy it is to apply.
Hurricane - i was thinking exactly the same regarding the prop treatment. This could be the product that really catches on given the much greater forces acting on the fouling and hopefully giving much better self cleaning. As you say will be v. interesting to see Jez and others findings.
Bandit - Having removed the base and finish coat around where my old transducer was I can tell you it's at least as 'easy' to remove as old antifoul. In fact it was much easier than the old flaking antifoul that was on it originally. It's removed using a scrapper or orbital sander with 80 or 120 grit without issue as it's quite soft. Feel free to come and have a look! FYI - Quay yachts in Jersey are the CI agents and have done about 12 CI boats this year including a Windy 37 that's come over here. Would be interesting to find out how they get on (don't know which marina they are in).
julians
Well-Known Member
But normal antifoul require no scrubbing at all mid season , or at least it does where i am.
So this stuff seems worse to me, i guess if even with normal antifoul you still have to tegularly scrub,then this stuff is better,but i dont need to regularly scrub.
If it works on props and sterngear that is a different thing altogether and would be worthwhile for those
So this stuff seems worse to me, i guess if even with normal antifoul you still have to tegularly scrub,then this stuff is better,but i dont need to regularly scrub.
If it works on props and sterngear that is a different thing altogether and would be worthwhile for those
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wellf100
Well-Known Member
Yes, i would tend to agree especially if you are ok with the cost/effort of repainting every year or 2. I have a friend who has a boat in Dubai marina who says he has to scrub virtually every month even with normal antifoul as fouling is so bad there. So he's tempted to give it a try as he has to scrub/jetwash anyway.
wellf100
Well-Known Member
one other thing to add, my boating tends to be short 3 or 4 mile runs to local bays and herm so maybe not ideal for helping the self cleaning aspect.
Whitelighter
Well-Known Member
I am currently trialling the aquacote Prop treatment on Seralia.
It's for MB&Y so it will be an interesting summer
Bandit
Well-Known Member
wellf100 thanks for the invite.
Aquacote is a silicone based coating and these have been in use for a number of years. Condor ferries have been using a similar coating on the fast ferries and originally trialled the international version in about 1994 on Condor 9, I am not sure if its still an international product they use now. The Guernsey sea fisheries patrol boat Leopardess has a similar Silone based hull coating on it.
My point was being silicone if you wanted to recoat at a future date with a traditional antifouling you would certainly need to remove all of the silicone final coat and depending on the base coats very carefully as no other paint sticks well over silicone.
Aquacote is a silicone based coating and these have been in use for a number of years. Condor ferries have been using a similar coating on the fast ferries and originally trialled the international version in about 1994 on Condor 9, I am not sure if its still an international product they use now. The Guernsey sea fisheries patrol boat Leopardess has a similar Silone based hull coating on it.
My point was being silicone if you wanted to recoat at a future date with a traditional antifouling you would certainly need to remove all of the silicone final coat and depending on the base coats very carefully as no other paint sticks well over silicone.
wellf100
Well-Known Member
ah right, that's interesting didn't realise that Condor had been using similar as well and the Leopardess. Yes you are right that you would need to remove at least the top coat to be able to apply something different. In my case I expect it to last 5 years+ so hoping to not need to for a long time!
Ekotek
New Member
It's actually a urethane modified silicone, if it's not stratifying you should be able to overcoat it with the same material but it won't accept regular paints anymore.
wellf100
Well-Known Member
Hi Ekotek, sounds like you're familiar with this kind of material, any other info? Have you used it?
wellf100
Well-Known Member
Hi all, i've not updated this thread as the US parent company of Aquacote went out business and Aquacote / Aquamarine is not longer available which is a shame. Hempel do their own version including a prop coating as well so it would be interesting to hear of any usage of that.
FWIW, I've still got Aquacote on my boat. It's the 4th year and results are the same as previous years. I didn't bother cleaning it last year throughout the whole season(!) and by early this year was down about 5 knots on top speed. Got the boat out on the trailer last month and cleaned it with a sponge or plastic scraper. It's good as new and the it still seems as slippery as ever as far as i can tell and back up to top speed. Didn't get around to taking any photos or video as it's basically the same as previous years.
cheers
Rich
FWIW, I've still got Aquacote on my boat. It's the 4th year and results are the same as previous years. I didn't bother cleaning it last year throughout the whole season(!) and by early this year was down about 5 knots on top speed. Got the boat out on the trailer last month and cleaned it with a sponge or plastic scraper. It's good as new and the it still seems as slippery as ever as far as i can tell and back up to top speed. Didn't get around to taking any photos or video as it's basically the same as previous years.
cheers
Rich
wellf100
Well-Known Member
hi, FWIW I've still got the same Aquacote silicon foul release on my boat and now into my 6th year with it! Only had to touch up some scuffed areas. It may not be perfect but it's saved a lot of faff and hassle crawling around the trailer re-antifouling every year (not to mention cost!). Photo shows how it look after a light jet wash last week.
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BruceK
Well-Known Member
Wow. Pity they went out of business. I remember when you first put it on and being silently sceptical. Just goes to show. At the time I was also investigating the ultrasound fad that was doing the rounds. I wonder if that now didn't have some truth to it.
ebbanflo
Active Member
I set up a business as a distributor for a fouling release product 7 years ago. I had it applied to my 45' motor boat by the boat manufacturer, who tested it and found it to be 1.5 knots faster than when it was new! I sailed on two, 200 mile trips to check the fuel consumption and used 7% less fuel. This product is still on my boat today. It is lifted out once a year for a pressure wash and anode renewal and relaunch.
After much research and marketing expense we decided it was only really worthwhile for commercial vessels - especially bulk ore carriers / container / tankers etc that typical spent 300+ days a year sailing. Saving on bunker fuel could be 5 or 6 tons per day when loaded, and it would last a minimum of 5 years. The $750,000 cost was recovered in 2 years- accountants like that! My boat cost roughly £5,000 to coat, a figure way too high for most leisure boaters. Sadly after 4 years my supplier decided to exit the market as their sales of this product were 'only' $80,000,000 per year - small change to them, and our business closed.
Last year I had Hempel Silic One applied to the props - which always need an annual polish. Unfortunately I can't comment on whether this product has worked. I have not been able to have the boat lifted yet because of Covid-19!
Hot Property
Well-Known Member
I'm not sure Silic one actually sticks to props very well but I do like it on the hull.
Now in second year and I just needed a light pressure wash to bring it back like new.
It's gaining popularity now as the environmental issues with traditional antifouling are moving up the agenda...
Now in second year and I just needed a light pressure wash to bring it back like new.
It's gaining popularity now as the environmental issues with traditional antifouling are moving up the agenda...
ebbanflo
Active Member
Hempel specifically market a propeller kit for Silic One- as two parts – Silic One Tiecoat and Silic One Top Coat. They recommend you apply their Light Primer to the prop first. https://www.hempelyacht.com/en-gb/products/hempels-silic-one-propeller-kit-7745p. As I said I was hoping to know by now 1) whether it sticks and 2) whether it works!
