Coppercoat application

[superheat6k]

Is this difficult or just a case of decent surface preparation, then mix the epoxy base and slap it on ? I understand it requires 3 costs.

I have a price for the full job, and just for the blast off, so I could roll it on myself or pay someone else just to do this task.

 

[sailaboutvic]

Is this difficult or just a case of decent surface preparation, then mix the epoxy base and slap it on ? I understand it requires 3 costs.

I have a price for the full job, and just for the blast off, so I could roll it on myself or pay someone else just to do this task.

We did it our self in 2013 on our other boat , the hardest part was removing every bit of old anti fouling, pulling it on was easy my partner mix while I rolled it on , the advise is keep going until later you run out , in our case four coats .
If we didn't it again I would just have it blasted off ,

 

[Yngmar]

It's not difficult, but you need a tent or some good luck with the weather. I've written extensively about my DIY Coppercoat application.

 

[Tranona]

Blasting and preparation is the easy bit if you get it done professionally. Applying Coppercoat is the critical bit as you need good settled weather doing it outside. Takes in practice 5 days to do properly. You need a well organised team to do the mixing and rolling, but all well explained in the instructions.

 

[sailaboutvic]

has said you need five days of dry weather then another five to do the pads in our case pads keel and rudder
first photo just had second coated

 

[chrisedwards]

It's not difficult, but you need a tent or some good luck with the weather. I've written extensively about my DIY Coppercoat application.

brilliant - thanks

 

[duncan99210]

If you’re limited in the number of folks you can recruit to apply it, then only do part of the hull at a time. We only did half the hull on a 12m boat with 2 of us; much easier job than trying to do the whole thing at once. Follow the instructions from Coppercoat and it’s a pretty easy, if tiring, job.

 

[sailaboutvic]

If you’re limited in the number of folks you can recruit to apply it, then only do part of the hull at a time. We only did half the hull on a 12m boat with 2 of us; much easier job than trying to do the whole thing at once. Follow the instructions from Coppercoat and it’s a pretty easy, if tiring, job.

We started off wi that intention but found we could just the hull within a long day , and it was a long day .
Re my comment about five days of dry weather , that not quite true , once it had time tomorrow go off properly, the odd shower won't cause a problem , you just don't want it to piss down , we covered our with plastic sheeting , even in Greece to get five days of dry weather in March can be a problem

 

[yoda]

Don't forget that it needs a decent primed surface to go onto. If you blast off then you are likely to have to prime the hull/keel as well. Epoxy underwater primer of the correct thickness is probably the best way to go but take advice from the makers of Coppercoat. No point on putting expensive Coppercoat on and it falling off because of a poorly primed substrate. Iron keels take about 7 coats of primer to get the required thickness. All easy enough with one mixer and one applicator. I tented using big tarpaulins and a couple of heaters to ensure the correct temperature. Rain is the problem as the epoxy runs off if it gets wet before cured.

Yoda

 

[AntarcticPilot]

It isn't 3 coats - its as many THIN coats as you can apply using up all the material AMC supply you with. It is applied wet on tacky, so usually if you work round the boat, the bit you did first will be ready for application of the next coat when you get back to it. On a 31' boat, I found that 2 people applying it and one mixing and stirring worked well. I think ours worked out at around 5 coats. The stirring bit is failrly important, as the copper can drop out of the mix. USe the thinners supplied by AMC up to 10%; it will be too thick to apply easily otherwise.

 

[macd]

Good summary from AntarcticPilot, and good info from others. Coppercoat resin is water-based so, although the cure is quite slow in typical UK conditions, it also dries -- both on the hull and in the mixing pot. Depending on the speed of working, in wamer conditions it can be more effective in keeping the mix workable to add some of the thinners part-way through the use of each batch.

The water-base makes it easy to wash off equipment (and self) until cured. Rollers and pots/trays can be washed and re-used, but buy a generous supply of rollers. Coppercoat supply suitable rollers at an OK price.

As said, the heavy copper will drop out of the mix if it's not continually agitated. It doesn't do much for the hull if left in the roller tray.