Coppercoat - Pros & Cons

[Rivers & creeks]

People talk about the huge effort in applying conventional antifoul - it takes the pair of us 5-6 hours which includes changing anodes and tidying the waterline, this time investment is despite us having a large underwater area to do and me being genetically work shy. Whole operation costs about £80 - about 3% of the cost of coppercoat. Sure there's a lift but we come out for anodes and maybe a bit of work most years, if not we could pay £20 for a day on the scrubbing posts. Seems to me coppercoat is a bit of an emotional rather than rational purchase, nothing wrong with that at all, it's a useful way of titivating the beloved, but not a cost effective one.

 

[langstonelayabout]

I'd say that you should look to see if coppercoat is successful in the area that you keep your boat.

I bought my boat with professionally applied coppercoat and moved it to a pontoon mooring at the top of Portsmouth harbour. Disaster. Scrubbed three times in the first season: 4" weed, loads of slime and a few barnacles each time.

Have now switched to micron antifouling and there is a world of difference. A slightly slimy pressure wash was needed last August.

I have no plans to coppercoat anything I own that lives in Portsmouth harbour...

 

[jonjo]

Should any yachtsman trust a company so reluctant to publish a price list?

A Google for 'coppercoat price' leads to the same old evangelical editorial prose replicated around the internet that praises the stuff but no mention of £ per litre. Is it too much to expect a paint manufacuturer to put a price tag on the tin without a presales dialogue with a Coppercoat consultant?

 

[jonjo]

People talk about the huge effort in applying conventional antifoul - it takes the pair of us 5-6 hours which includes changing anodes and tidying the waterline, this time investment is despite us having a large underwater area to do and me being genetically work shy. Whole operation costs about £80 - about 3% of the cost of coppercoat.

Hang on, you discount 2 man days of hard labour doing manual annual antifouling as an inconsequential effort and then choose to price against a pro Coppercoat application!

 

[Rivers & creeks]

Well I don't do hard labour. Me and SWMBO spend a few hours with some paint rollers, we change the anodes and smarten up the waterline, and break for lunch and be done by 3pm. That's not two man days and neither of us have ever charged the other for our time, so yes it's 3% of the cost of CC. If we had coppercoat we'd be done by 1pm and have time for a look round the shops, which shows how much more I'm saving.

 

[MagicalArmchair]

We didn't abrade it after it was first applied as you're not supposed to do that ...... and this month was its first time out since Coppercoating. However, it is now extremely well abraded as I used a scraper and then pan scourer over every inch to get the barnacles and worm casts off.

I certainly hope that mine is as good as yours and Vic's now.

Richard

You are not supposed to abrade it, you are supposed to burnish it though. I went to the CC stand at the Southampton boat show after I applied mine full of rage and photographs of the hanging gardens of slime from the bottom of Triola after I had after applying it and NOT burnishing it. They listened to my rant and let me jump up and down a bit before giving me their application guide and some free red scotchbrites . I wouldn't rely on your scraping - I'd give it a once over still...

Treated boats will benefit from having the cured Coppercoat®
surface lightly burnished with fine “wet and dry”
paper or sanding-pad prior to immersion – this will expose the copper powder and increase the immediate potency
of the anti-fouling. This process is particularly beneficial in areas of high fouling. (Tip – we recommend using 600
grade paper, wet, or a Scotchbrite sanding pad and lightly rubbing the surface in a fashion similar to applying
polish to a car bonnet.)

It has seriously been great since. Nothing emotive about it, it just works for me, on my river, and cost me about £460 to do the whole boat with an easy DIY, half a day application, so, good luck to the antifouling crew (and I do MISS the smell of it, it has such an emotive "start of season" smell (do the EU LET us smell it these days...?)). If you want a price, just call them and talk to the gang there, they are very transparent and above all nice to deal with.

 

[RichardS]

Well I don't do hard labour. Me and SWMBO spend a few hours with some paint rollers, we change the anodes and smarten up the waterline, and break for lunch and be done by 3pm. That's not two man days and neither of us have ever charged the other for our time, so yes it's 3% of the cost of CC. If we had coppercoat we'd be done by 1pm and have time for a look round the shops, which shows how much more I'm saving.

If £80 was 3% the cost of CC then the CC cost would be around £2500. You would have to be paying for professional application for it to cost that much rather than doing it yourself ...... so apples and pears.

Richard

 

[john_morris_uk]

Well I don't do hard labour. Me and SWMBO spend a few hours with some paint rollers, we change the anodes and smarten up the waterline, and break for lunch and be done by 3pm. That's not two man days and neither of us have ever charged the other for our time, so yes it's 3% of the cost of CC. If we had coppercoat we'd be done by 1pm and have time for a look round the shops, which shows how much more I'm saving.

Can you run me through your maths again please?

FYO the Coppercoat for our boat cost approx £700. Current price for tins for two coats of a reasonable quality AF for same boat is approx £140.

Micron 2 (supposed to last two seasons) comes out at just short of £400 for two coats. i.e.£200 per season.

All plus rollers and masking tape etc.

 

[Rivers & creeks]

Rollers cost £5 from B&Q, masking is another £5
Seriously who pays £70 a tin for antifoul paint??? Seriously???
Yes I'm comparing DIY antifoul with professional Coppercoat, five minutes on Google reveals a litany of failed coppercoat DIY problems and a fair proportion on the promoters on here had a pro job. I'm also comparing the two because I wanted to illustrate that antifouling is neither time intensive or expensive.

Coppercoat is a lovely product that produces a benefit that is largely emotional and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but attempts to justify it on cost grounds is just silly.

 

[MagicalArmchair]

Coppercoat is a lovely product that produces a benefit that is largely emotional and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that, but attempts to justify it on cost grounds is just silly.

I respectfully disagree Lord Watson, . £460 it cost to do my beloved 30 foot Albin Ballad, its an easy DIY (as you say, rollers are cheap, that's all you need to apply CC), and upwards of 12 years of likely service, plus the fact it is epoxy based and will protect me a bit from water getting at my hull. How much do you pay for a tin of anti fouling, say £50 for 2.5 litres? Two of those to do my boat a year, so after four years, I am in credit. I am not emotive in any way (now my Rocna, THAT I am emotive/emotional about!)

Each to their own, but for me, I do see CC as a cost and time saving device (both of which are useful when having two children and not a whole day to antifoul my boat).

 

[Rivers & creeks]

And I respectfully disagree as well sir, however we've both chosen a path that makes us happy.

 

[Kelpie]

Well I am as tightfisted as they come, and I still pay £70 for a tin of Uno. I have tried cheaper stuff and it isn't worth it, you need a second coat so actually need a second tin, and it all takes more time, it doesn't work as well, and it dribbles off your roller and down your elbow and generally splatters everywhere. Uno is lovely and thick and syrupy.
I antifoul between tides so Uno is by far the best for that as it is one coat and dries very quickly.

I am very tempted to CC my boat, as I can dry off on legs any time I like at zero cost and do the burnishing. A neighbour has just bought a boat with CC on it so I will see how he gets on, we are a pretty high fouling area- there used to be a mussel farm in the Loch and the growth here is impressive.

One more point. I don't understand why people rank AF as the worst job to do on a boat. I find it fast, easy, and with a massive visual impact. I will happily antifoul anybody's boat if they will, in return, trace the deck leaks in my boat. Deal?

 

[EwanClark]

I just want to add one thing to this thread. We don't publish exact pricing for Coppercoat, as a successful application is very much dependant on applying the right volume of paint. As I'm sure you can understand, two "35 foot fin keel yachts" can have very different underwater areas and will therefore require different amounts of Coppercoat. If you need a price, you can fill in details on our website and we will email you back. Alternatively you can call us. Coppercoat currently retails at £70 per litre plus VAT and delivery.

We do have indicative pricing on our website. It's under FAQ's http://coppercoat.com/faqs/

Tim (on behalf of a holidaying Ewan!)

 

[Tranona]

People talk about the huge effort in applying conventional antifoul - it takes the pair of us 5-6 hours which includes changing anodes and tidying the waterline, this time investment is despite us having a large underwater area to do and me being genetically work shy. Whole operation costs about £80 - about 3% of the cost of coppercoat. Sure there's a lift but we come out for anodes and maybe a bit of work most years, if not we could pay £20 for a day on the scrubbing posts. Seems to me coppercoat is a bit of an emotional rather than rational purchase, nothing wrong with that at all, it's a useful way of titivating the beloved, but not a cost effective one.

See post#6. Entirely rational decision. Simple cost/benefit analysis taught in any management course.

You can justify NOT buying the product if you make different assumptions and have different circumstances.

Always important to see such things from the perspective of the person making the choice - not from yours, and it is clear that for many people their circumstances (which are different from your) lead them to a different decision.

 

[MagicalArmchair]

...
I am very tempted to CC my boat, as I can dry off on legs any time I like at zero cost and do the burnishing. A neighbour has just bought a boat with CC on it so I will see how he gets on, we are a pretty high fouling area- there used to be a mussel farm in the Loch and the growth here is impressive....

One thing Kelpie, a mistake I made when I first had my boat (that already had CC applied for many years), I burnished (well, I actually abraded it!) it EVERY year, and you don't need to. Once every errr, 5 years I think Ewan told me? Its that first burnish after application that is the important one. So its literally scrub off and then forget about it. If you do decided to do it, talk to Ewan and the guys for application advice, they are very helpful and will help you avoid cocking up the application.

 

[Rivers & creeks]

See post#6. Entirely rational decision. Simple cost/benefit analysis taught in any management course.

You can justify NOT buying the product if you make different assumptions and have different circumstances.

Always important to see such things from the perspective of the person making the choice - not from yours, and it is clear that for many people their circumstances (which are different from your) lead them to a different decision.

Have a look at post #31

 

[KevB]

DIY application about 9 years ago and it's still working as good as year one, which is at least as good as 'normal' antifoul. No brainer for me and would recommend it.

 

[Tranona]

Have a look at post #31

What are you disagreeing with? You can't disagree with my choice because it is mine not yours.

Think what you mean to say is that from your perspective you made a different choice.

Nothing wrong with either - although I do disagree with your argument that says it is an emotional decision, which is why I directed you to my post which laid out the cold hard financial calculation for me.

You are able to do things to minimise your cost that are not available to me, and I value not having to do the antifouling very highly - but that is a bonus. The savings in annual haul out costs alone make it worthwhile for me.

 

[Rivers & creeks]

That's why I suggest looking at post #31

 

[pagoda]

Well I don't do hard labour. Me and SWMBO spend a few hours with some paint rollers, we change the anodes and smarten up the waterline, and break for lunch and be done by 3pm. That's not two man days and neither of us have ever charged the other for our time, so yes it's 3% of the cost of CC. If we had coppercoat we'd be done by 1pm and have time for a look round the shops, which shows how much more I'm saving.

Tend to agree. Antifouling is not all that pleasant, but does not really take very long. It is quite satisfying in some respects since you know where you have been. I talked to some folks locally (Clyde) who professionally clean boats. Some coppercoat works .. some doesn't. They tend to think applying new antifoul is not much of an evil. and not that expensive. I watched old antifoul being wet blasted off earlier this year- prior to an epoxy coat and new antifoul. Impressive business. removing the lot back to gelcoat every 10 years sounds not a bad idea. But not but not by hand!! Do what works for you and your boat (and pocket)