Excessive fouling and coppercoat.

[ozzie]

We are berthed in Brixham and have been making the most of this great weather, but it does have a downside. The fouling this season both on the boats and pontoons has been excessive. This is our first season with a copper coated boat, and I noticed a green beard growing round the waterline despite regular outings. Two weeks later it was about 9 inches long. I managed to scrape and scrub the worst of it off before heading out into the bay. We were halfway to Torquay before we got onto the plane! We had a blast round then which must have scrubbed some of the fouling off, but we are down to 3000rpm max and a top speed of 23 knots, not to mention an increased fuel consumption. A friend of mine with a Sealine S41 also copper coated has experienced the same problem. I am going to anchor off Broadsands later and dive under to check the extent of the fouling.
I have had a read up on coppercoat, and I think it may need abrading to reactivate it, but don't really want to be doing it now the season is coming into full swing, with lots of trips planned.
I am considering having the divers go down to give her a clean, but I am concerned that this won't last long and will need doing again in a month or so time. What's your thoughts and suggestions?

 

[Elessar]

We are berthed in Brixham and have been making the most of this great weather, but it does have a downside. The fouling this season both on the boats and pontoons has been excessive. This is our first season with a copper coated boat, and I noticed a green beard growing round the waterline despite regular outings. Two weeks later it was about 9 inches long. I managed to scrape and scrub the worst of it off before heading out into the bay. We were halfway to Torquay before we got onto the plane! We had a blast round then which must have scrubbed some of the fouling off, but we are down to 3000rpm max and a top speed of 23 knots, not to mention an increased fuel consumption. A friend of mine with a Sealine S41 also copper coated has experienced the same problem. I am going to anchor off Broadsands later and dive under to check the extent of the fouling.
I have had a read up on coppercoat, and I think it may need abrading to reactivate it, but don't really want to be doing it now the season is coming into full swing, with lots of trips planned.
I am considering having the divers go down to give her a clean, but I am concerned that this won't last long and will need doing again in a month or so time. What's your thoughts and suggestions?

you say it's your first season - when did you launch?
If you abraded before launch you shouldn't need to again and there is a good reason not to.

 

[Daydream believer]

Coppercoat does not work. I should know, I have had it done twice. 9 inches of beard around the waterline is normal & not such a big deal. This can be cleaned off with an hour's work with a stiff brush whilst the boat is on a pontoon/ What I do, being a sailing vessel, is have the yacht lifted & jetwashed mid season as well as the usual storage ashore & winter abrasion.
It is better than antifoul paint if one adds one's labour & includes all the extras such as rollers etc as it is cheaper to have a mid season jetwash.. I put Shogun 033 on the keel as corrosion is an issue & that does perform better than the coppercoat when hauled mid season. A keel is easy to apply antifoul paint but a complete hull is not.

 

[Elessar]

Coppercoat does work and in almost all cases of moaning someone didn’t RTFM.
In your case it sounds like it does work except at the waterline.
A beard happens when the Coppercoat waterline is too low. The fouling sticks to the GRP and then migrates over the edge of the CC.
Try a boot top of regular antifoul. It could be half on and half off the Coppercoat.

 

[ozzie]

you say it's your first season - when did you launch?
If you abraded before launch you shouldn't need to again and there is a good reason not to.

We were lifted and power washed for survey in September, no real growth. Lifted and power washed again in March, still no growth. Just come out now, struggled to get on plane, max revs now 2800 and 21 knots. Getting in shortly to have a look.

 

[Daydream believer]

Coppercoat does work and in almost all cases of moaning someone didn’t RTFM.
In your case it sounds like it does work except at the waterline.
A beard happens when the Coppercoat waterline is too low. The fouling sticks to the GRP and then migrates over the edge of the CC.
Try a boot top of regular antifoul. It could be half on and half off the Coppercoat.

On my boat the coppercoat is well above the waterline, so that theory- in my case- is b..x
When my boat was lifted in St Hellier & jetwashed by Billy Hibbs ( the RNLI coxswain at the time) he said that he had quite a lot of copper coated craft in the harbour & none of them were any better than ordinary antifoul paint. Generally worse. The big MOBOs in Jersey would have most likely have been professionally applied Coppercoat in factory conditions.

I have previously applied the West CopperBot system on 2 applications under the guidance of Wessex resins rep- CopperBot was a failure as a product. But I did have the advantage of the practice of application with professional advice.

As for RTFM, one might be aware that the DVD supplied for the first application varied from the instructions. I pointed this out to the manufacturers & they admitted that it was a mistake. I ran through the complete process with a senior member of staff prior to application.

 

[Elessar]

We were lifted and power washed for survey in September, no real growth. Lifted and power washed again in March, still no growth. Just come out now, struggled to get on plane, max revs now 2800 and 21 knots. Getting in shortly to have a look.

Ah ok so it’s your first season but not the Coppercoat’s first season?

it’s an SC35? Can you see the legs and props if you tilt them?

 

[Elessar]

On my boat the coppercoat is well above the waterline, so that theory- in my case- is b..x
When my boat was lifted in St Hellier & jetwashed by Billy Hibbs ( the RNLI coxswain at the time) he said that he had quite a lot of copper coated craft in the harbour & none of them were any better than ordinary antifoul paint. Generally worse. The big MOBOs in Jersey would have most likely have been professionally applied Coppercoat

I have previously applied the West Copper Bot system on 2 applications under the guidance of Wessex resins rep- CopperBot was a failure as a product. But I did have the advantage of the practice of application with professional advice.

As for RTFM, one might be aware that the DVD supplied for the first application varied from the instructions. I pointed this out to the manufacturers & they admitted that it was a mistake. I ran through the complete process with a senior member of staff prior to application.

It’s not better than ordinary antifoul paint. In year one it is worse. But it lasts 20.

 

[volvopaul]

My experience of Cc is that if the boat isn’t in full salt water it won’t work .
Read the Chemistry on how it works then decide if and why it doesn’t work , certainly didn’t work in Lymington as it’s a river , doesn’t stand too well on the Beaulieu river either I’ve customers on there .
An outdrive boat like the sc35 will suffer more from dirty props than anything else .

 

[oldgit]

Coppercoated P360 on our drying blocks , suspect CC was applied quite some time ago .
Covered in slime and very small barnycules, however it all came off very easily with a powerful jet wash.

 

[rafiki_]

I coppercoated my Azi. I was really happy with the results after years of using eroding a/f.
In the summer, after a warm weather spell of only a few days, I would lose significant performance. WOT would reduce from 29 kn to 16-18. On lifting, the problem was always growth on the stern gear and props. The worst offender was white worm casts. A quick clean of these would have us back up to speed. Any growth on the hull made negligible difference to performance.

 

[ozzie]

Ah ok so it’s your first season but not the Coppercoat’s first season?

it’s an SC35? Can you see the legs and props if you tilt them?

The boat is an S380 ( SC35 with extended platform). Wrnt out this afternoon, revs down to 2800 and speed down to 21 knots. Got into the water to have a look. Props are stainless, just had some mild staining on the outside, came off easily with a scotch pad. Waterline didn't look too bad, but cleaned it off with a scotch pad. Hull had a layer of slime but nothing significant. Legs were clean as a whistle, no growth at all. Went back into marina, wow what a difference! Revs upto 3200 and 26 knots! I am going to get the divers down to clean the hull and that should see her performing perfectly. Next season I will abraded the hull and fingers crossed that should do the job...

 

[Elessar]

The boat is an S380 ( SC35 with extended platform). Wrnt out this afternoon, revs down to 2800 and speed down to 21 knots. Got into the water to have a look. Props are stainless, just had some mild staining on the outside, came off easily with a scotch pad. Waterline didn't look too bad, but cleaned it off with a scotch pad. Hull had a layer of slime but nothing significant. Legs were clean as a whistle, no growth at all. Went back into marina, wow what a difference! Revs upto 3200 and 26 knots! I am going to get the divers down to clean the hull and that should see her performing perfectly. Next season I will abraded the hull and fingers crossed that should do the job...

Ok. Good news on performance. You didn’t answer the question about how old the Coppercoat is.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

The boat is an S380 ( SC35 with extended platform). Wrnt out this afternoon, revs down to 2800 and speed down to 21 knots. Got into the water to have a look. Props are stainless, just had some mild staining on the outside, came off easily with a scotch pad. Waterline didn't look too bad, but cleaned it off with a scotch pad. Hull had a layer of slime but nothing significant. Legs were clean as a whistle, no growth at all. Went back into marina, wow what a difference! Revs upto 3200 and 26 knots! I am going to get the divers down to clean the hull and that should see her performing perfectly. Next season I will abraded the hull and fingers crossed that should do the job...

I think your boat probably has the same drives and engines as mine had (Volvo DPH and D4s). When my boat was only a few months old I found that I’d lost a lot of speed and revs, had it lifted and scrubbed and retested. All ok. Proved that the drives and props are very susceptible to fouling. There’s an old thread on here about this.

So not surprised that you have had this. Almost certainly unrelated to the Coppercoat.

 

[rafiki_]

I think your boat probably has the same drives and engines as mine had (Volvo DPH and D4s). When my boat was only a few months old I found that I’d lost a lot of speed and revs, had it lifted and scrubbed and retested. All ok. Proved that the drives and props are very susceptible to fouling. There’s an old thread on here about this.

So not surprised that you have had this. Almost certainly unrelated to the Coppercoat.

Note my post #11. In full agreement

 

[ozzie]

Ok. Good news on performance. You didn’t answer the question about how old the Coppercoat is.

She is a 2015 model, copper coated from new.

 

[ozzie]

I think your boat probably has the same drives and engines as mine had (Volvo DPH and D4s). When my boat was only a few months old I found that I’d lost a lot of speed and revs, had it lifted and scrubbed and retested. All ok. Proved that the drives and props are very susceptible to fouling. There’s an old thread on here about this.

So not surprised that you have had this. Almost certainly unrelated to the Coppercoat.

Yes, D4 300s and DPH drives. She had new stainless props fitted just before we bought her last September. I always use Hempels Aluxtra on the sterngear applied by brush. It's not a pretty finish as it's quite thick, but it performs brilliantly all season. When I went under the boat yesterday the legs were pristine, not even any slime. Problem was definitely the growth on the coppercoat. Will let you know how she goes once the divers have given her a good scrub.

 

[Elessar]

She is a 2015 model, copper coated from new.

Ok then she may well benefit from an abrade. You shouldn’t do this too often - the myth that it has to be done every year is a myth.
Not too hard and not back to pure brown. A course scotchbrite pad is good.

 

[Daydream believer]

Ok then she may well benefit from an abrade. You shouldn’t do this too often - the myth that it has to be done every year is a myth.
Not too hard and not back to pure brown. A course scotchbrite pad is good.

Makes no difference in my case

 

[Elessar]

Makes no difference in my case

What it’s stayed brown?