Homemade Antifoul?

CaptainBob

CaptainBob

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www.yacht-forum.co.uk
I've been using Jotun Seaqueen for the last few years. Went to buy some just now only to find it's been discontinued.

Wondered about the possibility of homemade antifoul and found this for sale on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Copper-Powder-Cold-Cast-Filler/dp/B00364WPYQ

I'd possibly be willing to try a season using the above, maybe combined with a bottle of this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Psycho-Juice-Serum-6-4-Million/dp/B00F1S8YH2

But have no idea what to bind them together with in order to be able to easily apply them to my hull, but so it 'sets' and doesn't instantly wash off, but equally so I can remove any residue at the end if required?

Perhaps the above ingredients added to a very very cheap existing antifouling product.
 
ITYWF that antifouling does not contain metallic copper. It usually contains copper(I) oxide ( aka cuprous oxide) Cu2O or, in some cases, copper(I) thiocyanate.
 
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Wooden ships used to be sheathed with thin copper sheeting, primarily to prevent boring by Shipworm (Teredo), but presumably also to cut down on fouling. Maybe if you just stirred in lots of copper powder into some cheap paint, the copper would have the desired effect. I used to paint a large wooden deck with paint with added sand, for non-slip. The trick was to stir it before every dip with the roller. Copper powder would probably be even more difficult to keep stirred, as it will be denser, and you would want a high proportion of it. Try it, what have you to lose?
 
I tried mixing copper carbonate with silk emulsion paint and applying it to test plates which I left on my mooring. It didn't wash off as I might have feared but neither did it do much to stop the weed and brown slime that grow hereabouts. I did 3 plates, proper Hempel Cruiser Performer, Neat silk emulsion and silk emulsion with 20% copper carbonate. The proper stuff was good but the other 2 were much the same and rubbish.
 
NormanS said:
Yes, but it also says that no-one would know that you had done so, unless you told them. :rolleyes:
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But whether it is legal or not, the key point is that home brewed potions don't work. If they did then everybody would be doing it and the AF producers would be out of business.
 
Tranona said:
But whether it is legal or not, the key point is that home brewed potions don't work. If they did then everybody would be doing it and the AF producers would be out of business.
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Personally I have no desire to make my own, but what you say seems a very poor attitude. If people didn't try new ideas, we would still be back in the Dark Ages.
 
NormanS said:
Personally I have no desire to make my own, but what you say seems a very poor attitude. If people didn't try new ideas, we would still be back in the Dark Ages.
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But.... there is nothing new about the proposal. Do a search and you will find it comes up regularly, funnily enough around this time of year when folks are facing the cost of antifoul for the coming season.

In the "Dark Ages" people did make their own AF until commercial products that worked came on the market. So mixing your own (ineffective) brew is going backwards, not forwards.
 
I don't think it's worth the bother of making your own when you can buy THIS this relatively cheaply. I've come across unopened tin in my garage so I'll be OK this year. TBH fouling is not much of a problem where I moor but it does make your boat look smart.
 
Tranona said:
In the "Dark Ages" people did make their own AF until commercial products that worked came on the market. So mixing your own (ineffective) brew is going backwards, not forwards.
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Or was it the one dark ages man or woman*. that got his own brew right that became the first commercial product?

* Note I doubt that it was a woman, If a woman could keep a boat clean all season it must be witch craft as nothing else works, in the dark ages the drowned witches.
 
Personally I'm sure I could knock up a pretty effective antifouling paint using just a modicum of tributyl tin , a snifter of potassium cyanide and the merest whiff of arsenic. The only issues I foresee could be a visit from the "nviros" and perhaps a slightly increased risk of personal mortality...

It's easy to make a poison. The tricky bit is making it acceptable.
 
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