Comments on Coppercoat

[AntarcticPilot]

Ours is in a shed where professional boat builders are working, and we've designed / over-engineered timber supports which have met with their approval (but ultimately are our responsibility). The boat is positioned such that in the very unlikely event that it did fall over it would not damage any other property.

The boat is a swing keeler, so we took the keel out, suspended it from an A-frame by the hole where the spindle goes through, and worked on it seperately. We then painted the strip of the hull which is not accessible when the boat is resting on the keel, before putting the keel back in and propping the boat up. A major palaver!

Looks like I need a sky-hook! We'll just have to do as much as we can, and hope for the best.

 

[Sans Bateau]

In my experience (now 10 years of CopperCoat) there is one single element which often gets overlooked and which can effect the performance of CopperCoat in some locations and that is rain. Not the rain itself, but what it washes off the land and into the rivers. What Ken has on his boat is what should be expected after a particularly wet period. Cast your minds back to the amount of rain and floods we had during the last winter, all that rainwater finding its way to the rivers washing with it all the Phosphates and fertalizers Mr Farmer had previously spread on his fields is now helping the weed grow on your boat. That is why it grows more strongly at the surface, because the fresh or brackish water will float on the salt water.

In a dry summer I get minimal growth on Galadriel, in a wet summer another scrub is needed before the Sept Cherbourg trip.

 

[Vara]

My experience exactly mirrors Twister Ken. Even the fringe comes off with a good beat through choppy water. Other wise a quick rub round with a stiff brush does the job.

Am now in profit after breaking even after four years on propping, lift, and antifoul.

 

[Birdseye]

PS, How did you do the bottom of the keel? I can see how to do everything else, but having her in slings for the time required for the stuff to cure isn't an option!

Based on my experience I would not bother. If you dry out on the keel at all, and that includes the annual lift out, the coating wont survive that long. So treating the bottom of the keel is likely to be a repeat operation. I've given in and use conventional antifoul on the bottom one inch of the keel since it can be applied and launched in an hour.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Based on my experience I would not bother. If you dry out on the keel at all, and that includes the annual lift out, the coating wont survive that long. So treating the bottom of the keel is likely to be a repeat operation. I've given in and use conventional antifoul on the bottom one inch of the keel since it can be applied and launched in an hour.

I arrange to relaunch over the yard's lunch hour, which allows time in the slings to slap some conventional jollop on the underside of the keel. Can usually find a thrown away tin with enough left in it to avoid actually buying the stuff.

 

[Kelpie]

Could a copper strap be epoxied or sikaflexed onto the bottom of the keel?

On a different matter, could I coppercoat my bronze centreboard? How much thickness does the process add?

 

[maby]

Could a copper strap be epoxied or sikaflexed onto the bottom of the keel?

On a different matter, could I coppercoat my bronze centreboard? How much thickness does the process add?

It's just a thick paint - not going to add to the dimension any more than most standard antifouls are going to

 

[ccscott49]

Mine was coppercoated three years ago, this will be her first lift, only really to check seacocks etc. but diving underneath has shown, no hard fouling, just slime and a bit of grass, as I need at least 30 litres of antifoul to give two good coats and an extra one on the waterline, I'm a happy bear!If it lasts ten years and I see no reason it wont, then I will be well chuffed as will my bank account.

 

[RobbieW]

...PS, How did you do the bottom of the keel? I can see how to do everything else, but having her in slings for the time required for the stuff to cure isn't an option!

Having a boat with a long fin, we had her supported on a couple of wide blocks underneath so could get at the underside of the remainder. When she was moved to get under the pads, we moved the blocks under the fin - simples.

 

[haydude]

I have had jaycar ultrasound antifouling for the last 4 years and I have had similar results. Only slime and weed on the waterline that washes off easily. I lift every 2 years to carry out anode and propeller maintenance otherwise the hull could stay in longer.