Med Antifoul

[pathfinderstu]

Hi where can you buy this Ameron abc please and how much approx.? I am berthed in Fethiye sw turkey and the fouling problem here is a nightmare,,,,thinking of using plutonium if I can get hold of some haha,!

 

[rivonia]

Even coppercoat did not work in FETIYA we noted that raw sewage is discharged there along with corrosive's. Once we discovered that we departed quickly. Not nice at all.

 

[Tony Cross]

Does the answer to this question depend on whether you spend any time out of the water? This is our 1st season as live-aboards in the Med, and all the posts and advice in the pilots seems to relate to a routine of spending a few months out of the water. How do full-time live aboards manage their antifouling in the Med?

We use the cheap stuff that the local fishermen use and always have (over 10 years now). Tamarin (I think it's Israeli?) is what's been on the last few years, we get it locally of course. We're lazy liveaboards who don't enjoy spending several hundred Euros to lift every year, nor spending a week living on the hard (not fun). We have got into the habit of applying three coats of the cheap antifoul (and probably three more in the high wear areas) and we stay in the water for three years with that. I have two anodes on the shaft and one on the prop and they are only about 60% gone after 3 years. Quite often when in a fairly deserted anchorage I'll swim around the waterline removing the green growth and I'll also remove those few barnacles we get (and which I can reach). We do get minor fouling and it probably does cost us half a knot (or more) of boat speed, but we don't care. When she does come out the pressure wash cleans the hull very nicely so minimal work is needed before applying the next coat of antifoul.

 

[charles_reed]

Once a year 1 coat of local antifoul (Tamarin). That's the most expensive of the Greek antifouling, next up in price are Boero, Veneziani from Italy and, @ the top of the price tree, UK AFs like Hempel and Micron.
There is an even cheaper local Greek antfoul - one colour and non-eroding @ €26 for 2.5 litres. That's what the locals use and it lasts them the year.

 

[vyv_cox]

There is an even cheaper local Greek antifoul - one colour and non-eroding @ €26 for 2.5 litres. That's what the locals use and it lasts them the year.

Not sure if that's the stuff we used last year, it came in a steel drum with a clamp ring holding the lid on. The price sounds about right. It worked fine for us and we will continue to use it.

 

[BrianH]

We use the cheap stuff that the local fishermen use and always have (over 10 years now).

I'd love to do that but my local Italian suppliers obey the regulations that only commercial ship operators can have the effective stuff ... they will only sell to the local fishing boats. I'm left with yachtie, emasculated Veneziani that is considered the best of a bad bunch for our brackish and warm lagoon waters.

I still have to haul out every year to anti-foul as the tubeworm infestations build up into clump colonies in inaccessible areas (under the long keel and lower rudder support) where I cannot easily reach by diving while anchored. There is always a tiny patch of AF that gets broken away - or never adequately covered in painting; a single worm seed gets on and quickly grows and soon a million others have formed over it. The worst area is the bronze propeller, even with its special AF paint; every year I have to get into the dubious marina waters a number of times to scrape it before I can power out of my berth.