CopperCoat for the Tropical Waters

[TradewindSailor]

I have read many posts supporting the use of CopperCoat, but these were mainly from users in temperate climates.

I would like to hear from anybody who has experience with this product in TROPICAL waters.

 

[tcm]

Yep, i'm in martinique coppercoat not old though, only 6months.

In order to let the stuff cure properly, it has to sit in the yard 3 days. That's *after* a 1day wait and then a lift-shift to do gaps - they can't be done last minute. THEN you should get the stuff sanded down so it's really really shiny copperish, whch i faled to do, hence teensy bit of barnacles here and there.

Not to worry tho, the main advantage of the copercoat is that you have this hard scrapable mebrane over the whole hull. I have 6" paint scraper and snorkel/scuba scraping the thing hard as I like, rid of barnacles in a stroke and revealing shiny copper at the same time.

I reckon i'll be ahead £wise in 2-3 years - lifting just for (rather complicated) foldy prop anodes. Ok, i mite have a go at them in the water, eventually.

Oh, and yep, i really did get the hull properly striped and sanded back thanks to family, friends, a very tenacious poster hereabouts, plus erm when they'd al had enough 2 hours of air-compressor-powered proper sanding gear and hardass yard guys.

 

[rivonia]

Yep, i'm in martinique coppercoat not old though, only 6months.

In order to let the stuff cure properly, it has to sit in the yard 3 days. That's *after* a 1day wait and then a lift-shift to do gaps - they can't be done last minute. THEN you should get the stuff sanded down so it's really really shiny copperish, whch i faled to do, hence teensy bit of barnacles here and there.

Not to worry tho, the main advantage of the copercoat is that you have this hard scrapable mebrane over the whole hull. I have 6" paint scraper and snorkel/scuba scraping the thing hard as I like, rid of barnacles in a stroke and revealing shiny copper at the same time.

I reckon i'll be ahead £wise in 2-3 years - lifting just for (rather complicated) foldy prop anodes. Ok, i mite have a go at them in the water, eventually.

Oh, and yep, i really did get the hull properly striped and sanded back thanks to family, friends, a very tenacious poster hereabouts, plus erm when they'd al had enough 2 hours of air-compressor-powered proper sanding gear and hardass yard guys.

It is interesting that you say it should be sanded down so it is shiny copper. Ours was done from beginning to end by PROFFESIONALS and at no time was it sanded when finished. It also was not SHINY. We have been in the water just over a year now and NO GROWTH. We are in the Med

Peter

 

[snowleopard]

After 3 months in the Caribbean I had to scrape 1"+ of calcareous growth, mainly collected in the lagoon at St Maarten. It worked fine once we got back to Northern waters.

 

[grafozz]

It is interesting that you say it should be sanded down so it is shiny copper. Ours was done from beginning to end by PROFFESIONALS and at no time was it sanded when finished. It also was not SHINY. We have been in the water just over a year now and NO GROWTH. We are in the Med

Peter

the procedure of sanding down ,with a light grit paper , is to expose the copper particles which mutates ? into copper oxide ,otherwise you will have nothing more than a coat of epoxy facing the barnies /weedies ! the powder is suspended in the epoxy so will be "sealed " inside it if not abraded . Also in the med where it works very well , grafozz.

 

[tcm]

It is interesting that you say it should be sanded down so it is shiny copper. Ours was done from beginning to end by PROFFESIONALS and at no time was it sanded when finished. It also was not SHINY. We have been in the water just over a year now and NO GROWTH. We are in the Med

Peter

Well, fine. It does say you should sand it back when dry, in the instructions, I think.

Separately, you should note that "professionals" aren't necessarily the most competent aren't knowledgeable - so-called amateurs might easily know more, but can find more profitable employment in other sectors. And given that the marine industry isn't high-paying, that means the professionals in the marine industry might be amongst the least able, not the most intelligent, perhaps...

 

[capnsensible]

Ha, I like being dim cos that makes under achieving easy.

Dont get much
money though.

 

[oldsaltoz]

.
Have seen a few copper coated in the northern waters of Oz and most owners not too happy, seems to work a bit down south (colder) though.

Also note there is more than type of copper coat on the market so we might not be comparing like with like, I have even yachties make there own brew.

Oh, and one final note, it may not be a requirement to sand newly applied copper coat if the copper flakes can be exposed by other methods before the epoxy is fully cured.

Avagoodweekend......

.

 

[TradewindSailor]

Thanks all for your responses. I hope there are more.

Snow Leopard ...... you have a catamaran aswell I guess? Your 1" of calcerous growth is a little concerning, although once the bottom is covered there is little protection and the growth would continue un-checked. The lagoon in St Martin is pretty bad for fouling, as is Chagaramus, and La Paz. Would you say that a two weekly scrub down with a Scotch Pad would have kept it in check?

 

[snowleopard]

Thanks all for your responses. I hope there are more.

Snow Leopard ...... you have a catamaran aswell I guess? Your 1" of calcerous growth is a little concerning, although once the bottom is covered there is little protection and the growth would continue un-checked. The lagoon in St Martin is pretty bad for fouling, as is Chagaramus, and La Paz. Would you say that a two weekly scrub down with a Scotch Pad would have kept it in check?

Sure. But if you fancy putting on a snorkel to scrub 160 ft of hull every 2 weeks I take my hat off to you!

I did mine with a scraper. The worst bit was the tiny crustacea living in the growth which attached themselves to me in their thousands, wriggling away all (and I mean all) over me and itching like hell.

 

[snowleopard]

Also note there is more than type of copper coat on the market so we might not be comparing like with like, I have even yachties make there own brew.

Coppercoat is a trade name for one brand (which I used). It uses pure copper powder mixed into the resin before application. It derives from the earliest system called Copperbot (I don't know the exact relationship between the companies. There are some which use a copper/nickel powder and there is also Cuprotect where the metal powder is applied to the wet resin. I've only come across one user and his had to be re-treated under warranty as it didn't prevent fouling, even in UK waters.

That brings me to another point. I always recommend having the job done professionally with a written guarantee so you have some comeback if something goes wrong. About 10% of mine had adhesion problems and, as I had done it myself, the response was 'you can't have followed the instructions'.

It' won't be a problem in the Caribbean but if you regularly dry out in soft mud you can say goodbye to the coating as what isn't abraded away turns to inert copper sulphide. Mind you I haven't yet found a conventional a/f that works under those circumstances (except TBT).

 

[rivonia]

Coppercoat is a trade name for one brand (which I used). It uses pure copper powder mixed into the resin before application. It derives from the earliest system called Copperbot (I don't know the exact relationship between the companies. There are some which use a copper/nickel powder and there is also Cuprotect where the metal powder is applied to the wet resin. I've only come across one user and his had to be re-treated under warranty as it didn't prevent fouling, even in UK waters.

That brings me to another point. I always recommend having the job done professionally with a written guarantee so you have some comeback if something goes wrong. About 10% of mine had adhesion problems and, as I had done it myself, the response was 'you can't have followed the instructions'.

It' won't be a problem in the Caribbean but if you regularly dry out in soft mud you can say goodbye to the coating as what isn't abraded away turns to inert copper sulphide. Mind you I haven't yet found a conventional a/f that works under those circumstances (except TBT).

Very nicely put re PROFFESIONALLY' We were also in the lagoon and spent many happy hours at Lagoon Marina having a pint or two.

Peter