MacGlide. Finally a realistic alternative to anti-foul?

[GrahamD]

I just came upon this interesting interview about MacGlide, which essentially is a plastic film applied below the waterline which does not allow marine life to attach.

As a version of the coating has been used successfully with commercial shipping for a while it does seem as though this adaptation to small boats may work. The talk here is as a "disrupter" to the antifoul market.

http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/194176/We-speak-to-George-Hand-about-MacGlide

Has anyone come across this in the commercial field or had any experience of this?

 

[Otter]

It looks awesome, I really hope it works

 

[Yngmar]

Seems the same idea as the new smooth paints. Will foul up like untreated hull, but supposedly everything just slides off at 5+ knots.

I picked up a sample piece of Aquacote painted metal at the So'ton boat show and hung it off the end of the pontoon next to my boat since then. It's nicely fouled up now. I guess I should strap it to a boathook and motor at 5 knots while dragging it in the water to test.

 

[DJE]

I hope it works too. But there is a big difference between a comercial vessel which spends most of its time moving and a yacht which spends most of its time standing still. Also fitting flat sheets to double curved surfaces like yachts hulls must be tricky.

 

[bedouin]

Will foul up like untreated hull, but supposedly everything just slides off at 5+ knots.

Oh dear that rules me out then. Can't make 5 knots with a dirty bottom so can't go fast enough to get it cleaned

 

[NormanB]

Seems the same idea as the new smooth paints. Will foul up like untreated hull, but supposedly everything just slides off at
5+ knots.

I picked up a sample piece of Aquacote painted metal at the So'ton boat show and hung it off the end of the pontoon next to my boat since then. It's nicely fouled up now. I guess I should strap it to a boathook and motor at 5 knots while dragging it in the water to test.

The article mentions 7 not 5 knots.

 

[NormanB]

Oh dear that rules me out then. Can't make 5 knots with a dirty bottom so can't go fast enough to get it cleaned

Well you will not get to 7 knots then

 

[Andrew E]

Anyone know how much this costs?

 

[NormanB]

I wonder how many sailing yachts can achieve 7 + knots with a fouled hull?

 

[chrishscorp]

Not sure how that would stand up to a drying mud berth, an interesting idea.

 

[GrahamD]

I also wonder how robust the surface will be. Would it withstand the process of a boat being lifted and put in a cradle. I know it is possible to repair damage to vinyl wraps, presumably it will be possible to do the same with this product.

 

[GrahamD]

Also fitting flat sheets to double curved surfaces like yachts hulls must be tricky.

That is one thing that Grapefruit Graphics has cracked.

 

[lpdsn]

Oh dear that rules me out then. Can't make 5 knots with a dirty bottom so can't go fast enough to get it cleaned

Go to Strangford and drop the hook.

 

[Tomahawk]

I might be interested..

But it is jolly expensive..

 

[ex-Gladys]

When I first got my Autoprop, I collected it in its box from Clacton, and delivered it to Tidemill at Woodbridge to have the silicon based Propspeed applied (£150 worth). This was meant to last for 2-3 years. When lifted out at the end of the season, most of the stuff had dropped off, and a free reapplication took place, only for it to be exactly the same at the end of that season... Still snake oil at the moment, but no doubt some time in the future these things will work....

 

[DJE]

There is some confusion in the Y & Y article but presumably we are talking about silicone (breast implants) and not silicon (semiconductors).

 

[dk]

I once did a test on a similar self-adhesive antifoul coating. The MD of the company stuck a piece on his car tyre and drove down from the Midlands to meet me in Hamble. It was still stuck on, despite cruising down the motorway at 70mph+. So, we stuck it all over the test boat, which cruised extensively for a summer season in the Channel. At the end of the season we hoisted her out, to discover most of it had peeled off! The few remaining bits were indeed free from fouling, but then the rest of the hull was weed-covered as usual.
I'd want to see and speak to folk who've had it on their boat for five years before shelling out, personally.

 

[GrahamD]

So it seems as though the method is sound, if they can work out a good way of attaching it permanently to the hull.