copper sheathed hull

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I am looking at a motor sailer Halvosen 26' in the blurb its states her hull is double diagonal oregon copper sheathed. Deck is marine ply, dynal sheathed. Engine 56 HP ford fresh water cooling. Is this good or bad? What is the go with anti fouling the copper and what sort of maintainance am I up for. I am pretty new to this hope someone can help.
 
The copper sheathing provides the antifouling. Just get your surveyor to check that it's firmly adhered all over and not trapping water next to the hull. Ford engines are simple enough, with the advantage that parts are available from any tractor dealer at much better than marine prices. Dynal I don't know, but if its anything like Cascover sheathing then all it needs is to maintain the paint coating. Get a good survey, and take it from there...
 
G'day (Tassie) Christmas, and welcome to the YBW forums a mine of information for all.

Halverson 26' nice comfortable craft, congratulations.

Now you living in a very cool climate (Plurry cold in fact) any trapped water will expand and cause major problems under the copper, your surveyor should give the best advice on this, being a local he will have some experience and know what to look for.

<<Hull is double diagonal Oregon>>
A simple explanation is she is made of strips of timber thin enough to bend to form the hull shape all glued edge to edge, then a second layer of strips added at an angle to the first layer and glued to the existing layer and edge to edge, makes for a light but strong hull, the timber would have been treated to prevent rot and epoxy coated after gluing. not too difficult to repair if damaged.
Copper cladding needs little maintenance, not common due to cost of application and added weight.


<<Deck is marine ply, dynal sheathed>>
Has had a thin layer of fibreglass added to protect it. You need to look after this, drying and cleaning before adding a little epoxy resin to prevent water getting into the ply.

No doubt others will provide more detailed information, perhaps someone who had a copper bottom even.

Avagoodweekend......
 
Thanks for the reply, it is valuable information. I like the idea of the ford engine as I have had a ford tractor and it was so reliable and easy to obtain parts. The copper sounds good if it doesn't need anti fouling that must save me some...
 
does he mean me?

actually coppers on the bottom is indeed a (potentially) great feature tho oz's comments above all very valid.

Copper was ortiginally used to sheath wooden boats to stop woms digging in, in tropical areas. Not such an issue in cooler waters.

However, the copper oxide on the surface deters any crustacean (barnacle etc) from attaching, and it's for this reason you should not cover with antifoul.

In moderate thickness the weight is no big issue unless racing i spose: it's likely a fraction of millimetre thick and erodes at perhaps 10microns a year or less if left in all year round.
 
Thankyou for the info.
I am learning by the second. she is certainly not built for speed. 26' 56 hp diesel motor sailer. She has been in the water for a number of years so Now at 10 microns a year i'll have to figure out how many years she has left.
Thanks For your help..
 
i pm'd about this - essentially, no - tho the barnacle resistance must be reduced and it's a bit pointless: with copper, you have a sacrificial layer over the structural hull AND it resists barnacles. So painting over it a bit silly really - i'd consider stripping the paint at next haulout really and leave bare copper...unles the existing has no real growth - in which case er cobblers just clean it, and replace anodes and might not even need to haulout for that...
 
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