Coppercoat in the Caribbean

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dinwood

Well-Known Member
Joined
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130
Location
European coast
www.inwoods.org
Has anyone had any experience of getting Coppercoat applied in the Caribbean? Our Coppercoat was done in the UK last summer and needs repairing where it was wrongly applied. We were recommended a contractor in Trinidad (where the boat is) but he isn’t inspiring confidence as he is proposing to apply it like normal anti-foul – quite different from the manufacturer’s method (each coat applied whilst the previous one is still tacky).

We need either another recommended contractor or reassurance that applying it in the Caribbean is somehow different than elsewhere!

David Inwood
Goldcrest
www.inwoods.org
 
Coppercoat obviously needs very special prep and conditions for application for reliable service. I really think you should get Coppercoat to recommend a tradesman to apply it if you don't do it yourself.

Frankly there's only a few people I know in Trinidad that give reliable service, and I wouldn't suggest that they should apply Coppercoat.

Just a few tricks I've seen the tradesmen get up tos:

Thinning anti-fouling paint with acetone to make it more easy to apply ..... the paint breaks down and can't hold the copper in suspension.

Not stirring the anti-fouling paint so they don't have to apply the heavy stuff.

Thinning topsides paint down, and only using a fraction of what is actually required according to the spec.. Looks okay for a few months but soon looks shabby with dinghies easily scraping it off.

Using inferior fastenings.

My advice, if you have to get anything done in Trinidad:
Ensure the contract is clear and specs the amount of paint to be applied, not the number of coats.
Make sure the contractor has the spec sheet and understands it.
You are given a clear completion date, with compensation for late work ..... yeh ... no chance!!!
Oversee them very carefully

The trouble is you will be considered a nuisance if you do this and the workers will start your job, but not complete it. The yard will apply it's 'no-cash, no-splash' policy .... and the yard wins because they are charging you per day and they seem to take little or no responsibility for the contractors.

Another little problem. The crafts companies charge close to USA rates for labour and pay their labourers a pittance. Consequently the workers aren't as industrious as you would expect.

Whatever you do don't let anyone use a disc sander on your hull. You'll be there weeks while you pay them to refair your hull.

Obviously there may be some good workers, but do get recommendations from people you trust and where the work has stood the test of time.

And another thing, if they take the engine out, make sure they actually do the work and put it back in correctly; connecting up the shaft coupling as well.
 
dinwood said:
Has anyone had any experience of getting Coppercoat applied in the Caribbean? Our Coppercoat was done in the UK last summer and needs repairing where it was wrongly applied. We were recommended a contractor in Trinidad (where the boat is) but he isn’t inspiring confidence as he is proposing to apply it like normal anti-foul – quite different from the manufacturer’s method (each coat applied whilst the previous one is still tacky).

We need either another recommended contractor or reassurance that applying it in the Caribbean is somehow different than elsewhere!

David Inwood
Goldcrest
www.inwoods.org
Click to expand...
When I spoke to Coppercoat at LBS, they recommended me! The reason given was that I would be more likely to follow the instructions than anyone I employed. Application is supposed to be straightforward (but tedious) IF you follow the instructions precisely.
 
Graham_Wright said:
Application is supposed to be straightforward (but tedious) IF you follow the instructions precisely.
Click to expand...

Agreed, it's a doddle, albeit a fairly laborious one. Do it yourself.

You'll definitely need thinners in that heat (I've done it twice in Greece, so I know). Don't on any account use acetone. Do check, but I'm pretty sure that Coppercoat's thinners is nothing more than rubbing alcohol.

Please feel free to PM me if you have more questions.
 
Coppercoat was designed very much for the DIY market, and certainly there is no technical need to use a boat-yard. And while painting a whole boat is quite an effort, small repairs are not arduous.

The thinner we recommend is Iso-Propanol, which is denatured alcohol. Certainly do not use Acetone (or any other oil-based thinner) as Coppercoat is a water-based resin.
 
EwanClark said:
Coppercoat was designed very much for the DIY market, and certainly there is no technical need to use a boat-yard. And while painting a whole boat is quite an effort, small repairs are not arduous.

The thinner we recommend is Iso-Propanol, which is denatured alcohol. Certainly do not use Acetone (or any other oil-based thinner) as Coppercoat is a water-based resin.
Click to expand...

Iso-propanol is NOT denatured alcohol; denatured alcohol is ethanol (the stuff in alcoholic drinks) with substances added to make it unpalatable and undrinkable (methylene blue commonly in the UK - hence methylated spirits). Iso-propanol is an alcohol, but with three carbon atoms rather than the two in ethanol. It is commonly used as a solvent in many applications.

I suspect that if you bought denatured alcohol and added it to Coppercoat it would do horrible things to it!
 
I apologise for the confusion. Confession time - when we supply the thinners we supply pure Iso-Propanol, but as a safeguard we say that it is "denatured" to deter people from mixing any left overs into their Christmas punch!!!
 
EwanClark said:
I apologise for the confusion. Confession time - when we supply the thinners we supply pure Iso-Propanol, but as a safeguard we say that it is "denatured" to deter people from mixing any left overs into their Christmas punch!!!
Click to expand...

Anyone putting Isopropanol into their Christmas punch would stand a fair chance of not seeing another Christmas; the stuff has an LD50 of about 3-4 grams per kilogram weight for mice. Extrapolating, a human drinking a large wine-glass full would stand a good chance of not making it. And that's acute effects; there may be long term damage to kidneys and so on.
 
dinwood said:
Has anyone had any experience of getting Coppercoat applied in the Caribbean? Our Coppercoat was done in the UK last summer and needs repairing where it was wrongly applied. We were recommended a contractor in Trinidad (where the boat is) but he isn’t inspiring confidence as he is proposing to apply it like normal anti-foul – quite different from the manufacturer’s method (each coat applied whilst the previous one is still tacky).

We need either another recommended contractor or reassurance that applying it in the Caribbean is somehow different than elsewhere!

David Inwood
Goldcrest
www.inwoods.org
Click to expand...


Having done it myself recently ( in much cooler UK climate indoors in an unheated warehouse ) attempting to apply it over the tacky previous layer results in pulling the previous coat off with a very poor end result. I found letting it dry completely between coats was necessary; perhaps if its being professionally applied by spray coating that would not be the case. I also found keeping a wet edge is important during application and even at fairly low temperatures that proved difficult, the thinners that Coppercoat provided were 100% necessary to keep it wet enough to prevent partial curing of the wet edge during the rollering-on process. I put the recommended 4 coats on but I think I would have been happier with at least one more coat as there were still some spots that didn't look perfect to my eye.
 
To ensure good inter-coat adhesion it should really be applied wet-on-tacky - if you leave it to completely dry (cure) between coats you run the risk of the separate coats not being able to bond together to form one solid skin.

Coppercoat is water-based, so the rate of cure will depend on temperature, humidity and air flow. When working in the cool and damp atmosphere of an unheated UK warehouse the cure rate will indeed be slow. Consequently the time needed to wait between coats will be longer than is the case when working outside somewhere hot, dry and windy. Even so, the ideal is still to apply each coat before the previous coat has fully tacked off.

Very often 4 coats is sufficient for a full treatment. But we do have customers that apply more coats. Of course much depends on the thickness of each individual coat - and that varies with roller type and personal technique as much as anything else. Part of our role is to ensure that everybody purchases the correct amount required for their particular boat - that way as long as it all goes on (so that the required final thickness is achieved) it doesn't particular matter whether it is applied as 4, 5 or even 6 coats. When people tell us that they did 4 coats but had some left over, that's when we start to worry that their particular application may not be to the required depth. As is so often the case with coating work, it's not the number of coats that mater, but the final total film-build.
 
We did our in march this year in Greece , we got the copper coat from Crete I was a bit disappoint with then as they was happy to answer question until we ordered after that we didn't get any help we didn't even get a recite for our money, after saying that copper coating UK was very helpfully and did answer our email even tho we never got it from them .
Re applying it , we found it very easy to put on and as long as you don't try to put it on too quickly , it goes on fine , first coat goes on very thinly .

www.dufour385.webs.com
 
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