DIY Antifouling
- Thread starter Nicholas123
- Start date
SimbaDog
Active member
Why don't you try DIY shed own brand white matt emulsion with marmite & chilli powder? Should be just what you are looking for :encouragement:
When you patent it & make millions, don't forget to bung me a few quid!
When you patent it & make millions, don't forget to bung me a few quid!
Corribee Boy
Well-known member
As SimbaDog says, use emulsion paint with magic ingredients, but don't forget to thin it with petrol - it'll make it quicker to dry, and to speed things up still further, just flick a match at it - you won't be troubled by barnacles after that.
TonyBuckley
New member
Why are people so aggressive and nasty?
On both 'sides'.
Someone posted in a response to me, that this is a community. Not my definition of a community. Or perhaps it is in a similar sense of community to Lord of the Flies.
Some excellent posts on the history of antifoul that contained info I did not know.
I previously posted about some ultrasonic device that either reduced or eliminated the need to antifoul. I have no idea if it worked or not, but I do remember people coming together to test it and see if it worked - a good project in the spirit of PBO. I guess it did not, as not heard it revolutionising antifouling.
I am a contributor to several forums. Motorbikes for example where I see no such vitriol. So why in sailing? Perhaps because of an older curmudgeonly membership? I don't know.
Flame away!
On both 'sides'.
Someone posted in a response to me, that this is a community. Not my definition of a community. Or perhaps it is in a similar sense of community to Lord of the Flies.
Some excellent posts on the history of antifoul that contained info I did not know.
I previously posted about some ultrasonic device that either reduced or eliminated the need to antifoul. I have no idea if it worked or not, but I do remember people coming together to test it and see if it worked - a good project in the spirit of PBO. I guess it did not, as not heard it revolutionising antifouling.
I am a contributor to several forums. Motorbikes for example where I see no such vitriol. So why in sailing? Perhaps because of an older curmudgeonly membership? I don't know.
Flame away!
BruceDanforth
Well-known member
Seriously, the paints are designed to abrade and you need a new surface exposed to retain the properties.
Tranona
Well-known member
Maybe, but think you will find if you look at his history of posts you might agree that he thinks he is being serious.
Nicholas123
N/A
I agree with you there have been some interesting contributions & personally I find nattering about boats interesting.It just seems to me that some of these self proclaimed experts cannot face their opinions being challenged.Maybe their knowledge is not as great as they think it is!
All a bit sad really.
Nicholas123
N/A
I am happy to learn from other peoples experiences & have trawled to find out what these are.Personally I can't see why you should feel threatened by this.:ambivalence:
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
Does that include people who think they know better than antifouling manufacturers?
Nicholas123
N/A
This includes people who think spending lots of money may be suitable for some people but not everyone.
AntarcticPilot
Well-known member
But wasting money on initiatives doomed to certain failure - or a heavy fine - is OK?
Basically, if it doesn't work, you've wasted your money. This is the most likely outcome; people have been attempting to stop fouling on boats for centuries without much success until copper started being used in the late 18th century. Anything you'd be likely to lay your hands on has almost certainly already been tried. Even quite nasty stuff like oxides of lead don't work. There are plenty of urban legends about things like chilli powder and weed-killer, but that's all they are - urban legends, with no comparative tests to bear them out. There are excellent biological reasons why most of them are non-starters.
If it does work, it will almost certainly be in violation of strict rules concerning the release of biocides into the environment. You have published your intention on a public forum; I don't think you'd stand a chance of defending yourself if it came to court. Frankly, given that those rules came into being precisely because people were noticing that valuable marine resources were being damaged by the uncontrolled release of biocides into the environment, you'd deserve any fine you were hit with. The most effective substance of all - TBT - was banned world-wide for exactly that reason, despite commercial interest in it being retained. You mention farm runoff - that is also controlled, and a farmer who caused significant pollution of waterways by weed-killer, pesticides or anything else would have the book thrown at him good and hard. I live in an agricultural area, and can assure you that it happens; slurry is the usual one hereabouts.
For good and sufficient reason, the manufacture of anti-fouling substances requires a license. To get a license requires that you demonstrate that the formulation you're using meets stringent conditions. Antifouling manufacturers meet those regulations; I doubt you could.
I really don't get your problem with the cost. I can do my 31' boat with 2.5 litres of whatever the chandlers are selling cheap for about £50; that's two coats and it usually lasts two years (fouling is light where I am). Almost anything else that you put together that stands the slightest chance of working will probably cost you more. Time - my wife and I can put on two coats of antifouling in a couple of hours; I don't see that anything else would be significantly quicker. And antifouling is usually designed to go back in the water soon after coating; many people do it between tides!
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Nicholas123
N/A
The testimony of some on here clearly shows that not all are doomed to certain failure & just because the big companies have what is in effect a monopoly it dos'nt mean we should stop thinking for ourselves.
Fantasie 19
Well-known member
Right royally I'd say.... but for such an independently minded sport (or so I would assume) I'm kind of interested in the number of nay sayers in the thread - if it doesn't work it harms no one but the OP, so why is everyone so keen to save him from himself?? It's a bit like the outboard well in the Centaur thread all over again....
Now that would be painful...
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Hydrozoan
Well-known member
What (mildly) intrigues me are the claims here and elsewhere for the efficiacy of chilli, when dulcibella (#37) points out that most fouling organisms lacks capsaicin receptors. (They are found in some fungi and in mammals - hence the trial of pepper plants as 'hedges' for crops in elephant conservation.) Is it that chilli contains other substances to which fouling organisms are susceptible, or that its proponents are mistaken? I have never seen anyone cite a controlled trial, so must suspect the latter.
srp
Well-known member
Right royally I'd say.... but for such an independently minded sport (or so I would assume) I'm kind of interested in the number of nay sayers in the thread - if it doesn't work it harms no one but the OP, so why is everyone so keen to save him from himself?? It's a bit like the outboard well in the Centaur thread all over again....
Now that would be painful...
I think the point is that he is quite likely to harm himself, the environment and his wallet.
There was a long discussion a couple of years ago about the ultrasonic antifoul system, but I can't remember what the outcome was, so it might be worth the op digging that one up for a read. I suspect it wasn't all that effective or it would have gained wider acceptance by now. The undeniable fact remains that, despite a lot of effort by a lot of people, conventional antifouling paints are the best we've got, and I'm the first to admit they aren't brilliant.
If you want to prevent fouling as cheaply as possible, i can recommend boat jumbles - that's where I get my antifouling from and have done for the last twenty years. Dented tins, old stock etc, all for around £20 for a 2.5 litre can.
JumbleDuck
Well-known member
My antifouling for this year cost me forty quid. How much are you planning to spend on antifouling plus whatever you're planning to add?
Tranona
Well-known member
What makes you think I feel threatened by your daft ideas - perhaps concern for YOUR lack of concern for the environment, but more by why you think you can achieve something that nobody else has achieved and is fundamentally unachievable in the way you propose.
Current products are arguably less than satisfactory, and if you bothered to read what people have written you will understand why. As with many products there is an increasing degree of effectiveness, broadly related to price and effort. So you can do nothing and have a fouled bottom very quickly. Pay a little bit of money and spend a bit of time and delay the fouling, pay a bit more money and put in a bit more effort to delay it for longer, or you can take a long term view, put in a lot of effort and pay a lot more money to have a product which is effective for many years.
What you can't do is pay no money, put in no effort and get an effective antifoul, despite what you may think.
30boat
N/A
Rats!
VicS
Well-known member
The idea being that they eat all the fouling ?
Sans Bateau
Well-known member
Can I respectfully suggest that you should channel your inventive entrepreneurial talents into something which would earn you fortunes (the antifoul one wont thats for sure) allowing you to carry on using a mainstream product.
There is a viable alternative to antifouling every year, it was suggested to you in the first post replying to your OP, 8 pages ago, your reaction was:
"Far too expensive & far too much of a polava."
I can assure you long term CopperCoat is far cheaper than antifoul. However if you want to reinvent the wheel, then please continue.