Coppercoat - feedback

[rob2]

Possibly not as whilst the pressure jet will erode the coating, the amount of water flowing over it will leach out the biocides. Basically, an eroding antifoul should not be scrubbed or pressure washed - period. A hard scrubbable antifoul holds its biocides in a tight matrix and they leach out much more slowly, so you can wash and scrub, sort of halfway stage to Coppercoat and its ilk which should survive pressure wash and scrub barely touched, just exposing fresh bits of copper. Worth emphasising that antifould paints contain copper compounds designed to hold in the matrix and then break down into the poisonous versions at the surface. Coppercoat is simply (?) lumps of copper in a substrate of water based epoxy. The seawater converts the surface of exposed lumps into a poison, so if exhausted you can scour ioff a bit and expose fresh pure copper.

Rob.

 

[langstonelayabout]

Ah Coppercoat. Never again. The professionally-applied coating that is on the bottom of my boat seems to be the marine equivalent of Fisons or Baby Bio.

My deep water pontoon is at the top of Portsmouth Harbour in an area also fed by a river that passes through farm land.

My boat went in Early April and has already needed one pressure wash as we'd slowed right down. Mostly thick green slime with sea grass (up to 3" long) and a number of barnacles.

Next year I'm using the nastiest antifouling paint I can get.

 

[maby]

Ah Coppercoat. Never again. The professionally-applied coating that is on the bottom of my boat seems to be the marine equivalent of Fisons or Baby Bio.

My deep water pontoon is at the top of Portsmouth Harbour in an area also fed by a river that passes through farm land.

My boat went in Early April and has already needed one pressure wash as we'd slowed right down. Mostly thick green slime with sea grass (up to 3" long) and a number of barnacles.

Next year I'm using the nastiest antifouling paint I can get.

Unfortunately the nastiest antifouling you can get these days is pretty much the equivalent of writing "Bog off" in large letters down both sides of the hull!

 

[rivonia]

Time for the wet n dry ole son to expose more copper

Not necesary to use wet and dry just a gentle buff with a kitchen sponge-the ones with the green rough edge.

 

[Giblets]

My deep water pontoon is at the top of Portsmouth Harbour in an area also fed by a river that passes through farm land.

Could this be the problem with the Coppercoat as (as has been said already) it does not take kindly to fresh water?

 

[oldvarnish]

Sea temps have been higher this year due to the mild winter (I read) which may be something to do with it.

My Coppercoat came through a slow passage in the tropics with hardly any fouling and I was well pleased. I notice this year, on the Dart and so a river prone to agri-runoff, that I'm getting a lot of green whiskers round the waterline and on the trailing edge of the rudder.
The rest is green slime which comes of easily, and I doubt it slows you much anyway.

 

[sailorman]

Not necesary to use wet and dry just a gentle buff with a kitchen sponge-the ones with the green rough edge.

scotchbright pad then

 

[xyachtdave]

Our previous boat - Medway marina based - was Coppercoated professionally from new. When it was lifted, the fouling was limited to a bit of slime that pressure washed off easily - trouble was that a fair bit of the Coppercoat came off with it!

The lack of fouling in the marina is I think because of the lack of daylight to the sides of the boat because of the pontoons and other boats and lack of tidal flushing of 'nutrients' twice a day.

When our boat was in the marina I never gave a thought to scrubbing and after a year a thin layer of slime was all that could be expected.

On my mooring I've had three scrubs this year and another due next week, if racing you could double that to stay slippery. If doesn't seem to matter what the paint is, regular jet washing is required.

International Optima was the best paint I've used in terms of time before a scrub but unfortunately blown off by the cleaning process.

This is why coppercoat is popular, not because it works terribly well but because it stands up to the jet wash.

If your coppercoat doesn't work well in the marina, it wouldn't last a month out here!

 

[Champagne Murphy]

The lack of fouling in the marina is I think because of the lack of daylight to the sides of the boat because of the pontoons and other boats and lack of tidal flushing of 'nutrients' twice a day.

I always thought it was due to the collective high concentration of anti fouling, and possibly also because of the residual antifouls left in the sediment from PCB days.

 

[Otter]

I always thought it was due to the collective high concentration of anti fouling, and possibly also because of the residual antifouls left in the sediment from PCB days.

Crickey, there's not enough active stuff in antifoul paint these days to keep the hull clean, never mind it permeating the water of a tidal marina!

 

[maby]

I always thought it was due to the collective high concentration of anti fouling, and possibly also because of the residual antifouls left in the sediment from PCB days.

I doubt that - the pontoon caissons seem to collect plenty of weed and mussels.

 

[Birdseye]

In 2009 we had the boat Coppercoated.
Till April, we've been marina based.
Coppercoat had, so far, been as good as gold. We haul out once a year for a lift/hold/drop to change the anodes.
At worst, we had some slime around the waterline and on the keel which always came off very easily.

Since April, we're on a swinging mooring (River Orwell).
Been out for a couple of jaunts in local waters over the last few weeks and noticed a marked drop in boat speed (both under power and under sail) - about 1.5kts.
As we hope to be off on a 10 day cruise week after next, I arranged a lift/wash/drop with yard.
Below is what we found.
Green weed - in places nearly an inch thick. No crustations.

Question: anyone else experiencing similar? In particular, would like to hear from others with a Coppercoated boat on a swinging mooring.

yes, more or less exactly the same witha boat on a swinger in falmouth. maybe its warmer sea water this year? either way it was a bitch to get off when I dried out against the wall. Made a good 2kn difference.

 

[rwoofer]

Crickey, there's not enough active stuff in antifoul paint these days to keep the hull clean, never mind it permeating the water of a tidal marina!

Tried International Micron 2 this year. Seems far less effective than the old International Micron. Won't be using it again...

 

[Sans Bateau]

Could this be the problem with the Coppercoat as (as has been said already) it does not take kindly to fresh water?

Not just fresh water, but its the fertiliser in the fresh water which is the problem. When we get a very wet spring I get a lot of green at the water line. A river will be a bad place for fouling unless it has a low concertrate of fresh water.

 

[Elessar]

Ah Coppercoat. Never again. The professionally-applied coating that is on the bottom of my boat seems to be the marine equivalent of Fisons or Baby Bio.

My deep water pontoon is at the top of Portsmouth Harbour in an area also fed by a river that passes through farm land.

My boat went in Early April and has already needed one pressure wash as we'd slowed right down. Mostly thick green slime with sea grass (up to 3" long) and a number of barnacles.

Next year I'm using the nastiest antifouling paint I can get.

Is it completely green or still brown? The Coppercoat that is.

 

[langstonelayabout]

Is it completely green or still brown? The Coppercoat that is.

The coppercoat has gone a brown colour. I lightly scrubbed it with a fine abrasive before launch in April and ended up with loads of fouling.

Should it have gone that brown colour? (It was professionally applied in 2007) Am I expecting too much or using the wrong product for where I keep my boat?

 

[Twister_Ken]

The coppercoat has gone a brown colour. I lightly scrubbed it with a fine abrasive before launch in April and ended up with loads of fouling.

Should it have gone that brown colour? (It was professionally applied in 2007) Am I expecting too much or using the wrong product for where I keep my boat?

Should go green(ish)…

 

[Birdseye]

It wont go green in fresh water.

My boat is part time in fresh water part time in salt during the winter and then the coppercoat is very effective or the constandt salt / fresh change kills everything off. This summer in constant nsalt water it has grown a rare crop of green stuff but then so has every other boat on the trots. No crustaceans.

I dont reckon that coppercoat is any better than antifoul if as effective. But it is much easier in the yearly application stakes and I'm nothing if not lazy. My beef with it is that it doesnt stick to lead worth a damn.

 

[maxcampbell]

I copper-coated my boat when new. She's now 5 years old. For the first 3 years we trailer-sailed. Last year (and this) she was on a half tide mud berth at Brightlingsea. We had no weed growth at all, but a light encrustation of barnacles on the lower part of the hull that was in contact with the mud at low tide. The Coppercoat has stayed brown, and I've never abraded it.

 

[Elessar]

The coppercoat has gone a brown colour. I lightly scrubbed it with a fine abrasive before launch in April and ended up with loads of fouling.

Should it have gone that brown colour? (It was professionally applied in 2007) Am I expecting too much or using the wrong product for where I keep my boat?

It should be dark green, nearly black.
What can happen, especially this year, is that slime can build up before it corrodes. It takes 3 months to get to full strength, time for slime to build and stop the corrosion. Corrosion (which you need) is slower in non salt water.

Get her out, jetwash and abrade with a scotchbrite pad. Once working, it will continue to work.