Copper botomed - is the jury still out?

Twister_Ken

Twister_Ken

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Given that I'm stripping x years of old a/f off of the lugger, the question naturally arises about whether to go with one or other of the copper-bottomed alternatives. Since the whole market has had more bad press than the England Rugby team and Jade Goody put together (now there's a thought), I wonder whether anybody is yet prepared to put hand on heart and say it is A Good Thing, and if so which brand do you endorse?
 
Which position would you suggest that the Blessed Jade should play in ?

Hooker ? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
I applied Copperbot, of blessed memory, to my keel about 7 years ago. No fouling has ever deposited itself upon the keel since that day. It is now rather brittle and the keel is rusting beneath it. I can only report that the copper has done what it says on the tin.

The converse is that its appearance is not to everybody's taste, it was very hard work to do myself, every trace of old a/f needs to be removed.
 
About to start our third season with Coppercoat.

Is it the great solution the manufacture claims? No

Is it the great failure sceptics claim? No

Does it foul? Weed yes, but no crustacean.

Would I use it again? Yes

Why? Yes the boat has to be lifted (summer special at the marina) or dried out, usually twice a year to wash/scrub off, on one of those occasions it has to be braided. But I do not have to apply more AF, and I do not have to pay for the lift out store ashore lift in associated with that chore.
 
One of my more articulate students, a few years ago now - when students had that ability - cited me as a bumping-weight copper-bottomed feckwit if that helps.

As i recall, I objected to the bumping weight comment which I felt was rather unkind
 
I beleive the jury has now returned a not proven verdict. Apparently the feeling was tha PC Plod was asking for it when he bent down to pick up a penny just in front of Big Ears .. no reference to WIngnut and his butler JIC it may offend ardent royalists!
 
I have, or had CB, on the bottom of my fishing boat which is kept in Keyhaven. As those who know the area will know this is one of the highest fouling areas in the UK, along with Poole Harbour. The previous owner had kept the boat in Fleetwood and had no problems so we had high hopes when we put her back at the water in April of 2006 having scrubbed and abraded her bottom as per instructions from CB.

I'm sad to report that in our local conditions it was next to useless. CB kept crustacea at bay but not weed which grew in long festoons reducing the cruising speed of the boat from 17 down to 12 knots. I had to have the boat lifted in July to have the weed blasted off. By the middle of September we were back to festoons. This is with usage of at least twice a month, occasionally twice a weekend.

By contrast Rival Spirit which usually sits about 200m from said boat has a little slime at the end of the season and that was using some ordinary cruising antifoul.
 
My Parker had "Crystic Coppercald" gelcoat from new and it still does a good job after 17 years. I wake it up each season with scotchbrite on a drill. But it doesn't stop the barnacles on the flat part of the bottom which sits on the mud at low tide.
 
Half an answer for you ....

We've just launched our new purchase - which has been Copperbot 2000 'd since new (1996).

The previous owner said he just rubbed it over with a scouring pad each winter and patched up any thin areas with a brush - seems to have done the trick - bottom is clean and smooth.

Agree with others - looks a funny colour (see pics on our website) - bottom goes green, yet the freshly patched areas are a pinky brown colour. But who sees it?!

We'll continue to use it I suspect now its on!

Jonny
 
Two little inputs.

A) A couple of friends slapped fresh Copperbot2000 onto their two hulls some 7 years ago, like speculative builders with magnolia emulsion. They've lived aboard now all that time, taken their floating caravan across The Pond, up and down the Intra-Coastal Waterway, and spent months swinging at anchor in the Bahamas. They're now complaining that the Copperbot is no longer working as it did....

B) I've just given 6 tins of the stuff to a friend. It's past its 'sell-by date', but I don't suppose that'll affect the copper powder any. As for the miscible epoxy, we'll just have to wait and see. If he complain after 7 years effective service, I'll set the F-police on him.

BTW, the distributors told me that it really needs a very carefully-controlled environment for sound application and service. Most DIY-ers couldn't/wouldn't do that, and production boatbuilders wanted to use the cheapest stuff on the market, precluding their product. They said that, if one follows the instructions meticulously, the product would be good for several years more than conventional stuff. In the circumstances of the conversation, I'm quite happy to accept their view.

/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
 
I have a mate that did it, it has worked superbly for the 8 years to date. However it was applied in a temperature controlled tent, the mixture was mixed and kept mixed with a power mixer and the proportions advised were meticulously adhered (sic) to. He said all these things were critical to success.
 
I have Coppercoat on my gaff cutter and it seemed to do a pretty good job this year, which was generally reckoned to be a bad one for fouling. I have some pics if you want to send me an e-mail address by PM.
 
Have had coppercoat for a few years now. Good results with some slime but very little else. Have never even abraded, but might this year. Others in the same area (Dart) have given up and recoated with conventional AF.

We had ours professionally applied in a controlled environment. Don't know if that has made the difference or not.

Seems to be a lot of folklore surrounding the subjec - dark rumours of defective batches containing brass rather than copper etc.........
 
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