Coppercoat

It work for us full time cruisers if it it didn't I won't be applying it to this boat , a problem could be ( could be) when boat are only use for short period of time and left in weedy waters ,
Once slim and weed gets hold it because a good bases from shell fish to get hold .
Some years back we had a winter in Licata the boat didn't move for four months , Licata is well known for its fouling problem, we seen boat having to be towed away as they couldn't move under there only stream .
Before we left I had to dive to clean my prop , it was a ball of shells and all our hull fitting but other then underneath the keel where it didn't get CC and again a mass of shells the rest of the hull was clean other then the odd shell which fell away as soon as I touch them , a little movement and they would had fell off .
 
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Our current boat has Coppercoat, already done by the previous owner a few years ago. It was done "properly" by a professional yard with a guarantee. But obviously the hull was not dried properly resulting in moisture trapped between gelcoat and coppercoat creating blisters. The blisters are small and dont cause any problem, but it is a reminder that hulls must have low moisture content, as per specification, before copperboat is applied. Apart from this issue, the copperboat coating works well; no shells, only slime. I wil not go back to painting with antifouling every year.
 
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
Our current boat has Coppercoat, already done by the previous owner a few years ago. It was done "properly" by a professional yard with a guarantee. But obviously the hull was not dried properly resulting in moisture trapped between gelcoat and coppercoat creating blisters. The blisters are small and dont cause any problem, but it is a reminder that hulls must have low moisture content, as per specification, before copperboat is applied. Apart from this issue, the copperboat coating works well; no shells, only slime. I wil not go back to painting with antifouling every year.
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Can you please point me to where you found these low moisture spec for CC , it's one of my worries has we plain to complete the work with a mo th . but when I spoke to CC UK About this they said it's no a problem unless there already a problem with the hull .
 
We had our totally ineffective Coppercoat power sanded back to within an inch of its life in May this year as every other process, as recommended by the manufacturer, had failed to "activate" it since it was applied 4 years ago.

Swimming under the boat during the last couple of weeks, it would seem that the barnacles and worms are building up after only 4 months in many places on the hulls although some areas are not too bad. However, as the boat will now be standing still for another 8 or 9 months, I think that the build up will be horrendous by next season.

There seem to be two possible explanations, one is that Coppercoat does not work in Croatia, whatever you do to "activate" it, and the second is that Coppercoat does not work on boats that stand still for most of the year .... or perhaps a combination of these two.

The boat was conventionally antifouled for 6 years before we wasted our time and money on Coppercoat and that worked extremely well.

Richard
 
RichardS said:
We had our totally ineffective Coppercoat power sanded back to within an inch of its life in May this year as every other process, as recommended by the manufacturer, had failed to "activate" it since it was applied 4 years ago.

Swimming under the boat during the last couple of weeks, it would seem that the barnacles and worms are building up after only 4 months in many places on the hulls although some areas are not too bad. However, as the boat will now be standing still for another 8 or 9 months, I think that the build up will be horrendous by next season.

There seem to be two possible explanations, one is that Coppercoat does not work in Croatia, whatever you do to "activate" it, and the second is that Coppercoat does not work on boats that stand still for most of the year .... or perhaps a combination of these two.

The boat was conventionally antifouled for 6 years before we wasted our time and money on Coppercoat and that worked extremely well.

Richard
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Richard you may have a point , it worked well on our other boat but as you know we on the move most of the time , only for three month our boat sits in one place .
As I said I think once any slime get attached to the hull it's a good base for any fouling to get a hold , by moving around we don't have the problem plus we do swim a lot so wiping it now and then isn't a problem .
The three seaons we sailed in Croatia we didn't seen an y different ,
The only thing I would say , your was just sanded before your last launched so it hard to except that slime would had been the cause of your problem .
Have you taken photo before and after , as it well worth talking to CC about it .
 
We have Coppercoat. We reapplied it ourselves last year as the old stuff was getting less effective. New stuff is working well. We move about a lot but find when we anchor in one place for a while we need to clean it more often. Sitting next to a friends boat that had TBT applied we both experienced the same level of barnacles. Some anchorages here in the Caribbean are notorious for fouling wether you have CC or conventional anti-fouling.
When our first CC was applied several years ago by the ‘professionals’ they didn't burnish it before launch. It never worked well. We tried burnishing with scotchpads but I think in hindsight we would have been better hitting it with a sander to expose more copper. On this application of CC with burnished with 320grit before launch and the performance seems much improved.
 
Ok I’ve literally just been lifted. Watching the boat being washed.

Some slime on the Coppercoat. About 10 barnacles.
The conventionally antifoul bits are significantly worse as you can see.
74C08B13-0CBA-4D77-9436-99781AEED73B.jpeg
B1CC034E-4F67-4C20-933C-44F27B701CE3.jpeg
B9DEFA1F-E115-491A-AD7C-BB3B1DDCAD92.jpeg
8B50F9AF-8674-4841-B373-802235DC4815.jpeg

Judge for yourselves.
 
RichardS said:
We had our totally ineffective Coppercoat power sanded back to within an inch of its life in May this year as every other process, as recommended by the manufacturer, had failed to "activate" it since it was applied 4 years ago.

Swimming under the boat during the last couple of weeks, it would seem that the barnacles and worms are building up after only 4 months in many places on the hulls although some areas are not too bad. However, as the boat will now be standing still for another 8 or 9 months, I think that the build up will be horrendous by next season.

There seem to be two possible explanations, one is that Coppercoat does not work in Croatia, whatever you do to "activate" it, and the second is that Coppercoat does not work on boats that stand still for most of the year .... or perhaps a combination of these two.

The boat was conventionally antifouled for 6 years before we wasted our time and money on Coppercoat and that worked extremely well.

Richard
Click to expand...

Richard, may I ask the following?

Did Coppercoat recommend the sanding specifically. Ie AMC in Dorset?
Was the Coppercoat green or brown?
 
sailaboutvic said:
Richard you may have a point , it worked well on our other boat but as you know we on the move most of the time , only for three month our boat sits in one place .
As I said I think once any slime get attached to the hull it's a good base for any fouling to get a hold , by moving around we don't have the problem plus we do swim a lot so wiping it now and then isn't a problem .
The three seaons we sailed in Croatia we didn't seen an y different ,
The only thing I would say , your was just sanded before your last launched so it hard to except that slime would had been the cause of your problem .
Have you taken photo before and after , as it well worth talking to CC about it .
Click to expand...

Hi Vic

I've been talking to Ewan at Coppercoat for the last 4 years and it was he who suggested power sanding the whole hull with 100 grit as the Scotchbrite didn't achieve anything.

The full thread is at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...n-the-Last-Chance-Saloon-Picture-heavy-thread and AMC have seen all the photos.

I now have to decide whether to haul out again next year. The Trilux coated saildrives and folding props look fine and the anodes are hardly used and I just checked the saildrive oil and that is crystal clear so I can't see any reason to lift her out other than to re-visit the Coppercoat once again, as I have done every year since applying it. If I do, I will take photos. I might just sail with a barnacle infested hull for next season and haul out and conventionally antifoul in 2021 as the saildrive, props and anodes will probably need attending to by then.

It means that my speeds will be slower next year but at £500 a haul out, it might be a price worth paying.

There is no doubt in my mind that AMC should be offering me a partial refund after years of additional annual haul out expense but I know that isn't going to happen.

Richard
 
RichardS said:
Hi Vic

I've been talking to Ewan at Coppercoat for the last 4 years and it was he who suggested power sanding the whole hull with 100 grit as the Scotchbrite didn't achieve anything.

The full thread is at http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthrea...n-the-Last-Chance-Saloon-Picture-heavy-thread and AMC have seen all the photos.

I now have to decide whether to haul out again next year. The Trilux coated saildrives and folding props look fine and the anodes are hardly used and I just checked the saildrive oil and that is crystal clear so I can't see any reason to lift her out other than to re-visit the Coppercoat once again, as I have done every year since applying it. If I do, I will take photos. I might just sail with a barnacle infested hull for next season and haul out and conventionally antifoul in 2021 as the saildrive, props and anodes will probably need attending to by then.

It means that my speeds will be slower next year but at £500 a haul out, it might be a price worth paying.

There is no doubt in my mind that AMC should be offering me a partial refund after years of additional annual haul out expense but I know that isn't going to happen.

Richard
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Richard I not sure I still got your email address , but if not I will PM you with some news ,
sorry guys it private told to me and ask not to repeat on a public forum .
 
Elessar said:
Richard, may I ask the following?

Did Coppercoat recommend the sanding specifically. Ie AMC in Dorset?
Was the Coppercoat green or brown?
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See above thread for more details. Ewan at AMC suggested Scotchbrite and when that achieved nothing, suggested power sanding with 100 grit as in the other thread, The problem is that there is a lot of hull to sand and I could not do it myself. Also, there are now some bare patches of gelcoat where the curves in the hull mean that sanding down to a consistent thickness is extremely difficult. Funnily enough, the bare patches appear to have no growth on them. :confused:

The Coppercoat has never been green other than in the area above the waterline where it gets splashed by waves. It's always been brown below the waterline although after the sanding in May this year in was a more coppery colour so a much lighter browny/reddy then every other year. However, it still doesn't work. :(

Richard
 
RichardS said:
See above thread for more details. Ewan at AMC suggested Scotchbrite and when that achieved nothing, suggested power sanding with 100 grit as in the other thread, The problem is that there is a lot of hull to sand and I could not do it myself. Also, there are now some bare patches of gelcoat where the curves in the hull mean that sanding down to a consistent thickness is extremely difficult. Funnily enough, the bare patches appear to have no growth on them. :confused:

The Coppercoat has never been green other than in the area above the waterline where it gets splashed by waves. It's always been brown below the waterline although after the sanding in May this year in was a more coppery colour so a much lighter browny/reddy then every other year. However, it still doesn't work. :(

Richard
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Cuprous oxide is what repels the critters. So if it isn’t green it can’t work. Why it didn’t go green is a mystery but if Ewan can’t figure it no one can.
As you can see from my pictures mine is very green and it definitely works.
 
Elessar said:
Cuprous oxide is what repels the critters. So if it isn’t green it can’t work. Why it didn’t go green is a mystery but if Ewan can’t figure it no one can.
As you can see from my pictures mine is very green and it definitely works.
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You can turn it green before it goes in the water with wipeover of oxalic acid. If it stays brown it won't work - the copper is covered with epoxy?
 
hello
i m a new owner of a bavaria 46 and i m sailing the last 2 years in Med.
I m thinking to change my antifool with cc .
do you think that works better at Med waters?
any suggestions will be appreciated
 
sailaboutvic said:
Can you please point me to where you found these low moisture spec for CC , it's one of my worries has we plain to complete the work with a mo th . but when I spoke to CC UK About this they said it's no a problem unless there already a problem with the hull .
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, I dont have the figures, however, to my knowledge, there is a certain level of moisture content that the hull must reach before coppercoat is applied, if too much moisture you will get blisterring.
 
t21 said:
You can turn it green before it goes in the water with wipeover of oxalic acid. If it stays brown it won't work - the copper is covered with epoxy?
Click to expand...

It can't have been covered with epoxy in my case because the 100 grit sander had removed half the thickness. :ambivalence:

I've never heard of the oxalic treatment before. Is that something which has been suggested by AMC?

Richard
 
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC said:
Unfortunately, I dont have the figures, however, to my knowledge, there is a certain level of moisture content that the hull must reach before coppercoat is applied, if too much moisture you will get blisterring.
Click to expand...

I had another conversation to day , needed to find what best epoxy to use on the steel keel and brought up the subject re moisture,
They confirmed what they said before ,
Now they maybe fogging me of with bad info or they don't seen to think it be a problem,
 
t21 said:
You can turn it green before it goes in the water with wipeover of oxalic acid. If it stays brown it won't work - the copper is covered with epoxy?
Click to expand...

the copper in coppercoat is like the bubbles in an aero bar.

So when new there is a very thin layer of epoxy over the grains. That's why before first launch you should abrade with a scotchbrte pad.
Once the corrosion has started it self perpetuates. The epoxy erodes (very very slowly) exposing new copper to corrode.

It can happen that slime forms before corrosion starts if the water is warm and fertile. Then it stays brown.

I have no clue why richard's didn't corrode. I also don't know if the acid trick works ive never seen it or done it. But if it does, great!
 
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