Coppercoat

Haven't-a-Clue

Haven't-a-Clue

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Sorry, but another thread about coppercoat. We have a Merryfisher 805 and have decided to get the hull coppercoated. We are (unfortunately re prices of just about ANYTHING!) on the Hamble and our marina has given us what I consider an eye watering quote to do this. Morever, when we enquired last year, we were quoted about £500 less, but were unable to proceed at the time due to finances. This has now been resolved......or at least we thought so until the new quote came in! So, where would you take our boat to have this done and what would the panel consider a) an acceptable quote and b) a very good one. For info purposes, the current quoted price is JUST shy of £3k.
Thanks in advance for your musings.
 
Haven't-a-Clue said:
Sorry, but another thread about coppercoat. We have a Merryfisher 805 and have decided to get the hull coppercoated. We are (unfortunately re prices of just about ANYTHING!) on the Hamble and our marina has given us what I consider an eye watering quote to do this. Morever, when we enquired last year, we were quoted about £500 less, but were unable to proceed at the time due to finances. This has now been resolved......or at least we thought so until the new quote came in! So, where would you take our boat to have this done and what would the panel consider a) an acceptable quote and b) a very good one. For info purposes, the current quoted price is JUST shy of £3k.
Thanks in advance for your musings.
Click to expand...

I paid less than that for 43 ft, shop around but get it done properly, I hear its useless if not.
 
Wow that's loads dearer than I would have thought. I had been thinking about copper coat for my Rodman 870 (similar size to yours) Anti fouling materials cost me about 150 this year with me doing the work with each coat taking about 2 litres and 1.5 hours labour per coat. So at the price you have been quoted it would take me 20 years to recoup the initial outlay. I appreciate that some may say fuel should be saved in that time and no effort would be required with professionals applying but 2k for what amounts to a days work is to ott for me.
Please update if you get better prices as I am seriously interested

Thanks in advance
 
I paid £4K5 for a 50 footer in Spain 3 years ago, it has now paid for itself - its very good so keep asking around.
 
I had my new 33' sailboat done by Osmotec at Hamble Point. Just over £3k. On an existing boat you need to pay for stripping the hull, making good and the application. Basic materials will be around £800. Rest is labour - plus haul out and launching of course.
 
Hamble Yacht Services did ours, 38ft for £3k-4kish including removing old AF, haul-out, etc. Done indoors to keep temperature and humidity correct, especially this time of year.
Most important learning point, for me, was to ensure that the sub-contractor used to remove the AF uses a good quality grit, not one that does a quick job also removing part of the gel coat and/or metal bits. I'd pay a little more to get gentler stuff, which does take longer but is kinder to the hull. Also, ensure that they properly fix all the thousands of pin-holes that will almost certainly exist as part of the deal.
 
It really depends on how much prep work is required. A neighbour has been quoted £5k for a 36' mobo, in Cardiff Bay, to include lift/launch, strip back old af, epoxy then coppercoat. Sounded a lot to me, but he is a vastly experienced boater, and seemed happy with the quote.
 
That sounds expensive - have you considered doing it yourself? I decided to coppercoat my Mitchell 31 a few years back - The prep was hard work as I needed to remove the old antifoul - lots of it. Unfortunately it was not economic to get someone to travel to the highlands of Scotland to get the hull soda blasted, so removal was by hand. However once the hull was prepared, then putting the coppercoat on was dead easy.. albeit hard hard work... once you start, it has to go on "wet on tacky" and so you keep going until you've done the lot. need around 3 people to make application relatively easy.

I promise you applying CC is not difficult.. but you need several things

1. a well prepared hull
2. dry weather or somewhere undercover
3. Reasonable tempreature & humidity.
4. Some willing helpers.
5. the ability to leave the boat to "cure" for the recommended time, rather than being pressured to re-launch quickly.

Tip: Buy more rollers than you think - we used at least 10 on the Mitchell

On my most recent boat, bought from new, I applied the CC before the boat was launched. It went on without any trouble. Below are some pics of my last 2 boats I did myself - It's not rocket science and if you have a reputable company who can soda blast your hull (or similar) - then the whole job is really not that difficult!

DSCF0007a.jpgin shed 3.jpgDSCF0014.jpg
 
I paid about £1k for a 24' boat a year ago, including sanding the hull prior to painting, but not including lift out and storage. That was through ARC, who were linked to Ellesar on this forum, but I'm not sure if they are still trading or if he is still connected with them. The e-mail address is admin@theantifoulremoval.co.uk, so you could mail them to see what the current situation is. I was happy with their work.
 
I think ours was about 5500 euros (under £5000) for a 20m boat (I think that equates to 110 sq metres)
That price included stripping off the old antifoul using a gentler "slurry blasting" process rather than just dry sandblasting.

We did ours 4 years ago and don't regret it.
In the Med, it isn't as good as antifoul but way easier and certainly cheaper over the long term.

Here is a link to a post (with pics) that I put on this forum at the time - you may find it interesting.

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?307750-Coppercoat-%96-The-Complete-Process
 
I have used ARC in the past and have been happy with their work. I think that our marina uses ARC for the work they are quoting for and can only assume that the extra premium is what we used to call in some parts of the motor trade a couple of decades ago as "George money", referring to the add-on part by the quoter for their "time and trouble" organising said service.....
 
robmchugh said:
That sounds expensive - have you considered doing it yourself? I decided to coppercoat my Mitchell 31 a few years back - The prep was hard work as I needed to remove the old antifoul - lots of it. Unfortunately it was not economic to get someone to travel to the highlands of Scotland to get the hull soda blasted, so removal was by hand. However once the hull was prepared, then putting the coppercoat on was dead easy.. albeit hard hard work... once you start, it has to go on "wet on tacky" and so you keep going until you've done the lot. need around 3 people to make application relatively easy.

I promise you applying CC is not difficult.. but you need several things

1. a well prepared hull
2. dry weather or somewhere undercover
3. Reasonable tempreature & humidity.
4. Some willing helpers.
5. the ability to leave the boat to "cure" for the recommended time, rather than being pressured to re-launch quickly.

Tip: Buy more rollers than you think - we used at least 10 on the Mitchell

On my most recent boat, bought from new, I applied the CC before the boat was launched. It went on without any trouble. Below are some pics of my last 2 boats I did myself - It's not rocket science and if you have a reputable company who can soda blast your hull (or similar) - then the whole job is really not that difficult!
]
Click to expand...

Another vote for DIY. I have a 33 ft Aquastar and did mine three years ago. All it needs now is a quick jetwash once a year. Preparation is key. I removed all old antifoul with a chipping hammer and sanded the gelcoat to a course finish. Then applied strictly as instructions. I don't agree that it's "easy". The first coat needs to be applied carefully and not overpainted until tacky. I had enough material for 4 coats overall which I did myself, but I split the hull onto 4 segments and completed each separately. If you have more helpers it's better and hard work but there is no rocket science about it. Frankly I watched another boat in the yard being done by "professionals" who took lots of shortcuts which the owner never saw. Now 3 years later these shortcuts are showing up and flaking off. If you have a practical bent and don't mind the work do it yourself. The compromise might be to get a quote for blasting the hull to clean and then DIY the coppercoat. Would advise against chemical removal though as it produces an awful toxic mess. Don't disregard face masks and filters however you remove the old antifoul though. It is of course highly toxic.....
 
boatmike said:
Another vote for DIY. I have a 33 ft Aquastar and did mine three years ago. All it needs now is a quick jetwash once a year. Preparation is key. I removed all old antifoul with a chipping hammer and sanded the gelcoat to a course finish. Then applied strictly as instructions. I don't agree that it's "easy". The first coat needs to be applied carefully and not overpainted until tacky. I had enough material for 4 coats overall which I did myself, but I split the hull onto 4 segments and completed each separately. If you have more helpers it's better and hard work but there is no rocket science about it. Frankly I watched another boat in the yard being done by "professionals" who took lots of shortcuts which the owner never saw. Now 3 years later these shortcuts are showing up and flaking off. If you have a practical bent and don't mind the work do it yourself. The compromise might be to get a quote for blasting the hull to clean and then DIY the coppercoat. Would advise against chemical removal though as it produces an awful toxic mess. Don't disregard face masks and filters however you remove the old antifoul though. It is of course highly toxic.....
Click to expand...


And another for doing it yourself. I did mine about 8 years ago and it's still working well. I used http://symblast.com/ to remove the old antifoul @ around £500 and coppercoat was around £600, all for a 35ft motorboat. Very easy to do, just like putting on four thin coats of normal antifoul one after the other with a bit of mixing in between.
 
KevB said:
And another for doing it yourself. I did mine about 8 years ago and it's still working well. I used http://symblast.com/ to remove the old antifoul @ around £500 and coppercoat was around £600, all for a 35ft motorboat. Very easy to do, just like putting on four thin coats of normal antifoul one after the other with a bit of mixing in between.
Click to expand...

I think the trick is to have someone mixing and someone applying.
You have to keep mixing so as to keep the copper granules in suspension.
Maybe someone mixing and two applying.
 
Another option in the Hamble area would be Deacons Boatyard at Swanwick. Ask for Nick. And feel free to mention my name, Ewan, from Coppercoat.

Unfortunately Mark (on here as Elessar) closed The Anti-Foul Removal Company about a year ago, so that's no longer an option.

To keep costs down, have you thought about paying someone to do the hard work of taking off the old anti-foul, but then completing the relatively easy bit (the Coppercoat application) yourself? For an anti-foul removal service, try Paul Hockey of Southern Blast (formerly known as Symblast).
 
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