Best Antifoul 2025 for UK

I suspect the type of antifoul you need depends very much on where you moor. The north of Scotland's waters are very different to the South coast.. Even on the south coast, a marina in the sea is very different to one in a river estuary.

As my boat is on the Broads it's very different to most other boats conditions. The water varies from full fresh in mid winter to 100% salt reaching 19 miles by river inland , if there is a surge surge in the summer ( caused by the air pressure going from high to low rapidly)
My boat has VC 17 on it, very easy to look after, but it is not as good as it was, last year it got lots of small mussels on it by the end of the season, never had that before.. it'll be interesting to see what the bottoms like this year after the hot summer, when she's hauled out in November .
 
Roberto said:
Used Seajet Shogun for years (>10) with very good results, applied yearly; even during Covid, I could not lift the boat so same AF for two years the result was rather ok. Total difference these past few 3-4 years: each year, after a few months there are barbs, and worst of all they do not go away after having sailed the boat, a really significant decrease in efficiency; spoken to other people in this same area and opinions seem to converge, imho the formulation has been changed.
Next year I am really tempted to go the 50euro/tin path rather than 180e/tin.
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I use shogun. I also buy 200grams of copper dust from Ebay and mix it in.
It works just fine. The copper dust is only a few quid.
 
Our mooring is absolutely shocking for fouling. I scrub fortnightly in spring and early summer, weekly from then on. This to maintain a literally spotless bottom. It would be the same with any other antifoul, my neighbours have a variety and all grow serious beards. Difference is that I’d scrub through any other type in half a season and have to reapply. Coppercoat is infinitely scrubbable. The other boats around me don’t scrub, they go slowly in late season.
 
We are at 2 years on our Seajet 033 and the bottom is completely clean. Nothing to do with the antifoul, I bought a Scrubbis cleaner and cleaned it while afloat.
We had been down by 1.5kt and fuel economy was suffering. Now back to hull speed and good fuel economy. I dived at Gigha a few weeks ago and there is almost no fouling left.
 
lustyd said:
We are at 2 years on our Seajet 033 and the bottom is completely clean. Nothing to do with the antifoul, I bought a Scrubbis cleaner and cleaned it while afloat.
We had been down by 1.5kt and fuel economy was suffering. Now back to hull speed and good fuel economy. I dived at Gigha a few weeks ago and there is almost no fouling left.
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I think this is where we are all going with today's antifoul. A mid season scrub was enough in the past.

Most of the additives are long gone now. And some form of mechanical removal of fouling is required throughout the season in addition to the paint coating.
 
Snowgoose-1 said:
I think this is where we are all going with today's antifoul. A mid season scrub was enough in the past.

Most of the additives are long gone now. And some form of mechanical removal of fouling is required throughout the season in addition to the paint coating.
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I suspect you're right.

30 years ago you could reasonably expect a whole seasons protection from any mid-priced antifoul you might pick up from the chandlers shelves, but not anymore as now you're lucky if you get more than a few weeks.

Who can say whether the massive drop in performance is being driven by genuine concerns for the environment or the antifoul industry is intentionally screwing it's customers by flogging ineffectual products at eye watering prices or maybe chandlers and boatyard and marina operators have been deliberately restricting DIY access to higher strength "professional users only" products such as the Jotun range so they can boost their margins by creating a demand for multiple lifts and scrubs during the season.

By whatever cause it's us poor sailors who're having our enjoyment of boating heavily compromised by relentless fouling.
 
Snowgoose-1 said:
I think this is where we are all going with today's antifoul. A mid season scrub was enough in the past.

Most of the additives are long gone now. And some form of mechanical removal of fouling is required throughout the season in addition to the paint coating.
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Look on the bright side, with no additives the price of Antifoul should drop to around £12 for a 2.5 litre tin - Same price as shed, fence or emulsion paint. Wonder when that’ll happen?
 
Most of the growth is caused by nitrogen run off. It is getting worse. Defra now include in their maps where there is heavy nitrogen run off from fields near rivers.
 
I dont know if our 10 yr old coppercoat is still affective but I make sure we steam in at full chat 'against' the strongest half tide ebb every now and again...What ever's going on we are quite clean underneath with only some patches of brown staining and barely any weed or crustacea. I certainly dont think it would hurt to give it a sanding, which incidentally takes a lot more effort than you think. In fact you have to be quite brutal to make a change. That copper is jolly hard.
 
winch2 said:
I dont know if our 10 yr old coppercoat is still affective but I make sure we steam in at full chat 'against' the strongest half tide ebb every now and again...What ever's going on we are quite clean underneath with only some patches of brown staining and barely any weed or crustacea. I certainly dont think it would hurt to give it a sanding, which incidentally takes a lot more effort than you think. In fact you have to be quite brutal to make a change. That copper is jolly hard.
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Your level of fouling is mostly related to the location of your home mooring, which for most of us is where your boat spends most of it’s time. A fast run does get rid of quite a lot from copper coat. We hope to grow less, and have a holiday from scrubbing if we spend a few weeks of being on the move every day. The growth out in the Solent, on our XOD is nowhere near as bad, but still requires scrubbing by the end of May, say a month after launch. A white cloud of scrubbed off hard racing drifts off in the tide. By the end of the season, we are down to epoxy primer and it’s very hard to stay clean. The end of season races are a kind of scrubbing test rather than a sail race.
 
Copper powder. I add two hundred grams. It mixes with anti foul and stays suspended as it is so fine.
 

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Sailing steve said:
I suspect you're right.

30 years ago you could reasonably expect a whole seasons protection from any mid-priced antifoul you might pick up from the chandlers shelves, but not anymore as now you're lucky if you get more than a few weeks.
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I suppose the critters could be developing a resistance to antifoul paint by a process of natural selection. When myxomatosis was released into the UK. something like 90% of rabbits were killed but these days only a small percentage succumb to it.
 
fredrussell said:
I suppose the critters could be developing a resistance to antifoul paint by a process of natural selection. When myxomatosis was released into the UK. something like 90% of rabbits were killed but these days only a small percentage succumb to it.
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Try a couple of soup spoons of copper powder each day and let me know if you develop a resistance.
 
Much depends upon where the boat is kept, as Chiara's slave says.
Here in Dartmouth, it is not good since tin was banned. Our cruising boats that can dry out and scrub about once a moth on the larger springs.
 
I'd be tempted to give it a good burnish and see how it does before antifouling on top. My coppercoat's 13 years old, I still don't suffer with fouling anywhere near as much as non-coppercoated boats. Most of what's on there is slime that comes off quite easily with a scotchbrite. I don't think that counts as burnishing but I believe coppercoat do say that burnishing should be done with a scotchbrite so maybe I am. I jump in once or twice a year and also have a scrubbis that I found in the marina skip. I get some grass around the waterline especially in hot weather but not much else and my boat doesn't get used much. I certainly don't get barnacles and dead man's fingers like I see on those non coppercoated boats that haven't been out for a few years. I'm in a marina on south coast...
 
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