Copper Coat with diving?

[MikeH99]

It is interesting that experiences seem to vary so much. Contrast the experience of the Clipper RTW boats (admittedly per a Coppercoat ad) with pictures of some of the Golden Globe boats which looked like mussel farms on haulout. I also wonder how much J-l VDH’s win was to do with getting his hull prep right? With the speed of the Golden Globe boats, plus one knot because of a clean bottom would be a race winner.

 

[Yngmar]

Would it be feasible to stay afloat for a few years and do hull cleaning, anode changing, etc. with diving gear?

Yes, we haul out every two years (sadly needed for saildrive oil and anode change), and otherwise scrub in the water. No scuba gear needed, although a wetsuit in spring helps. You can read all about our Coppercoating here (links on the bottom for parts 2 and 3): https://sdfjkl.org/blog/2018-02-27-coppercoat-I-the-scrapening/

A lot of people, including many so called "professionals" seem to forget that newly applied Coppercoat must be abraded after it has cured, to expose the copper particles, else it will not work. As always, my advice is: If you're not able or willing to do it properly yourself, at least be there and make sure everything is done right and not just invoiced for.