Children and antifoul

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paloma2

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I read with dismay the readers letter in the current PBO suggesting a childrens competion for antifoul pictures.

Antifoul is POISON. It says so on the tins. It says so on the
long data sheets available on the internet.

Children are not adults. Children do not understand that this substance should NEVER come into contact with their skin. We as adults have the responsibility to ensure that they will live a enjoyable and long life.

Just because you don't get a headache if you antifoul your finger doesn't mean the toxins havn't entered your body.

The toxins involved are long term and very complex.

The correct protective clothing incl. face mask and eye protection should be worn.

Please, please, keep children away from antifouling !


I enjoy sailing and repairing my boat. My children help where
they can. They sand down and paint too. But they are properly dressed and gloved.

After watching boatyards over the years (and magazines too)
I expect few posters to be in agreement here. But if I can just shake up a little discussion - who knows ?

Regards
from the Baltic
 
Yes, Antifoul is poison ... how did you learn? Have you ever eaten any? Why not?
If your child isn't sensible enough not to listen to you and you are not sensible enough to give them the right tools for the job then fine ... don't let them help out with a little extra antifoul ... otherwise ... I gather they are superb for doing the bottom beneath the bilges ... they are small enough just to walk between rather than having to bend your own back ..

There are 000's of dangers in the world that you'd want to protect your kids from ... but don't bubblewrap them and lock them in a cupboard ... they won't learn anything that way.
 
So wrapping them in foam, rolling them in a paddling pool full of anti-foul and then hauling them back and forth under my hull on the end of a rope is out then?

There goes another fiver for a PBO time-saving tip /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Does this include Chinese children? They made great sails for the boat so I wondered about importing a couple for anti fouling next spring?
 
In another incarnation I would be a Health and Safety expert, capitalising on the continuing campaign to seal ourselves off from the real world and lock us into the risk, dirt and germ free Dettox society. Sure, we should be aware that stuff like A/F is bad for your health, but no one is suggesting the kids take a bath in it.
We had an H&S consultant give our company a quote for a simple H&S programme, it would have cost £5,000 and the proposal contained gems such as labels for the TippEx warning people not to drink it!
 
I can't remember when I first started antifouling Dad's boat. Is that because of the antifoul, or was I just too young?

Can't wait for my kids to be old enough to hold a brush and help with the varnishing at least! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Agreed it is not nice stuff ...

But considering it doesn't kill the Barnies or other waterborne stuff it's designed to ... !! Kids will probably fair better !

I antifouled my dads and others boats from a young age ... apart from a few nervous twitches and deformed features !! I seem to have survived OK.

Jokes apart ... yes we need to be careful about waht kids get involved in - but in fact many other paints can be as dangerous in their way as AF ... as well as many household items ....

Sensible instruction and supervision of kids goes a long way to sorting this HS&E crud ....
 
I don't know what the fuss is all about. You don't really need anti-foul to stop children attaching themselves to the hull. They can't retain their grip much above 2kts. I also find that if you leave the boat in over the winter it discourages growth.
 
Before Tippex

cwln351l.jpg

After Tippex /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
All us guys that splashed antifoul halfway through the 1900s
must be doomed then. I thought they'd fixed it, and that was the reason for 1 - diabastrical cost 2 - lack of efficacy. Judging by some of the underwater growths I've seen recently, it's not strong enough to pull the skin aff a custard.
 
Absolutely agree.

My kids help to antifoul. They get treated to masks, safety goggles and to paper disposable suits from B&Q with about 40 turn ups in the legs and sleeves. They think its hilarious (and it does make me laugh too), as well. They understand fully why they wear this gear, and thus have learnt that some warnings on tins/bottles/etc are to be taken seriously.

And besides, they have a lot of fun, and feel that they are part of the boating family that we are.

Why would I want to prevent them from being enthusiastic to help with the 'work' involved in owning a boat when they are so blatantly keen to do so?

And yes.... we do get pictures painted on the boat in antifoul.... why not?

I know i'm not the only one that does this... I watched Guapa antifoul his boat earlier this year with the help of his family.... they all mucked in, and clearly felt some ownership for the boats care too.
 
hmmm. In the days when antifoul contained TBT maybe - but looking at the ingredients list of my antifoul, the active ingredient is Cuprous Oxide - widely used as a pigment in printing inks and dyes. Kids probably absorb 10 x more through their skins through reading books than they would get from a few splashes of antifoul. Maybe we should issue masks and gloves for reading?

The one ingredient in my antifoul that is a bit dodgy is Xylene. Now, when I was a young naturalist and microscopist I used to get through Xylene by the litre - miscible with both paraffin wax and Canada balsam and alcohol it was invaluable. It's carcinogenic but not in a rampant way - the amount I inhaled / absorbed 30 - 35 years ago would have killed me by now if it was.

Yes, by all means take sensible precautions, but antifoul isn't 'poison' in the way arsenic is. Your kids will absorb more poisons standing under the Hammersmith flyover for ten minutes at rush hour than they will from a day's antifouling.

I usually manage to cover about half a square foot of bare skin when antifouling, and I must say the modern stuff sticks to your skin a lot better than the old TBT in chlorinated rubber ever did!
 
As far as I can remember, it sticks to clothes, skin & hair better than it does to the hull. But it's a few years now since I last used it myself.

Mooring in a river & sailing in the sea has its advantages!
 
If you think A/F is sticky, you should have seen my son and myself after we had installed a new forehatch and paid our usual dues to the great god Sika. Now, that is sticky! Paloma would have been pleased to see us wearing disposable gloves.
 
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