New antifoul on top of old.

The trouble with just slapping it on is, after a few years your hull, below the waterline starts to look like the surface of the moon.
I take a little time to wet sand, giving a bit more effort over the rougher areas.
This also increases the time between the dreaded scrape back to gelcoat.
 
KREW2 said:
The trouble with just slapping it on is, after a few years your hull, below the waterline starts to look like the surface of the moon.
I take a little time to wet sand, giving a bit more effort over the rougher areas.
This also increases the time between the dreaded scrape back to gelcoat.
Click to expand...

I tried wet sanding

I opted for the moonscape

It now got so bad though that the newpaint tends to lift the old off and I end up rolling on a mixture of new paint and flakes of old. :(
 
Whilst working in a 'new to me' yard very recently, the boat close next to me (very close) was having its AF done.

It shocked me that these two guys were dry sanding, they had no masks, not even particle masks.

Having unwelcome blue AF dust settle on my gel repairs was one thing, me breathing it in was another.
Luckily, I had my own full face with me and stuck it on pretty quick, I had spare (disposable type) and offered them to the guys, "no thanks mate" was the reply, "why is this stuff bad for you?"

They then proceeded to apply the new antifoul -still without masks!


Why do some people think that something that is designed to inhibit growth is safe to breath in, yet alone allow others to breath it in?
 
:confused::mad:

Antifoul paint is very very Toxic, when sanded down it is easily breathed in and can cause lung / breathing problems, sometimes early in life afterwards sometimes, like Asbestos, much later on in life. :( :mad:

Much better be safe than sorry handling Antifoul Paints; mind you the H&S regs have removed a lot of the Nasty's from the compounds; Arsenic has been banned (I understand) ; so if removing old Antifoul that is already on a boat that you have recently acquired be extra careful .

Many compounds found in older Antifouling Brands have been banned by Govt on H&S grounds; including effecting fish and shell fish.
 
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I think it all has been said. You can just slap it on over previouys A/F. If you do this however the paint can build up over years then falke off to leave big steps in the paint.
It ios a terrible job to clean off many layers of A/F. So every bit you can wet sand off at each haul out the better.
I get really heavy fouling in warm water. So I tend to wipe it clean after about 2 months then progressively scrub until near the end of the season it is largely gone. So wet sanding underwater. I paint it on the trailer which is not conducive to cleaning and painting is hard.
The point is that the best time for a/f painting is at the beginning of the season. Or perhaps just a little into the season when fouling is problem to get it to last as long as possible into the season. Of course much less fouling in UK waters. good luck olewill
 
Since I guess you sail at MYC I would urge you not to dry sand your boat but use a medium grade wet and dry with plenty of water. I use a hose rather than a bucket. Certainly do it before the weather gets cold. The club, quite rightly takes a very dim view of dry sanding. If you are using an eroding A/F the club pressure washer will have taken most of it off by now which is why you are seeing bare patches. I use a hard antifouling and scrub at least monthly and have found it better this year than last when I moaned at International due to the high level of fouling I experienced. They said I was scrubbing too often and need to put more A/F on. They did say that if I used Micron and put 3 coats on it would survive one mid season scrub.
So to sum up.
1. Wet sand and put primocon on the bare patches
2. Apply more Cruiser Uno at least 2 coats
3. Scrub less next year.
Ask the rest of the guys in the car park in the winter to see what everybody else uses.
Good luck
 
Yes; the OP mentioned white patches, I guess this is the gel coat so a splash of primer is required.
My hull was re-epoxied 2 years ago so no real build up of antifoul. after jet washing there are some bare patches.
Advice on form was to go over these with primer, don't worry if the primer goes over some antifoul., then slap on antifoul as normal.
 
sailorman said:
The amount of rubbing down makes little difference to the enviro ( as we now call it). as a lad i was breathing in aframosia dust & i reckon that was worse for me
Click to expand...

I can't say I'm especially bothered about the environment in the yard - it's been a boatyard for decades and I'm sure modern antifoul pales beside some of the toxic gunk soaked into it. Plus there's a scrapyard across the river which blows loads of metal dust everywhere all year round.

However, I still wouldn't dry sand a boat, having done a little bit of Kindred Spirit that way and breathed in some of the result (despite one of those little paper dustmasks). I felt ok at the time, but started coughing my guts up that evening and was ill for a week. Not recommended.

Easiest way to do it is
one of these: http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/decora...Dry-Wall-Sanding-Screen-9254894?skuId=9262593
on one of these: http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/decora...ushes/Oakey-Pole-Sander-9254926?skuId=9262625
on the end of a standard decorator's telescopic pole.

Plus a bucket of water; I find that an old tile cement bucket is ideal as it's a bit wider and flatter than a conventional plastic bucket. Plus a hose if possible.

Hose down the hull, and fill the bucket. Go at it with the sanding pole, dunking it frequently in the bucket to keep it wet and wash the sludge off. Periodically re-hose the hull to keep it wet and wash off the sludge that didn't stick to the pole, and change the water in the bucket from time to time as well.

The sanding screens come as a pack of two different coarsenesses; I find the coarser one more effective though the other is not completely useless.

Pete
 
I wouldn't put self eroding on it Chris, tried that for two years and gave up. Get a hard paint that can stand up to the jet wash. There's a compatibility chart on the International website, you should be able to put something like Micron Extra 2 or VC Offshore on it after a light wet sand.

Spray the boat with water, quick buzz over with the sander with 180 grit wet and dry, rinse it off and allow to dry.

Also don't go near the yard at the weekend - you won't get anything done - too many people to chat to/borrow stuff/tell you you're doing it wrong etc!

Plus the bun fight over the working plug socket and hose pipe.......
 
Before i changed to coppercoat ( which does not work) I used 2 coats of Blakes Ocean Performer ( Now Hempel I believe). Other forumites are correct about the effects of dust
I used to remove a third of the antifoul each year to prevent excessive build up
As a result I used to get severe Migraine attacks at least 3 times during the process. Plus, inspite of using air actuated full face masks I still got dust in my eyes which stings for some time.
The older one gets the harder it is to do
I also found that areas such as the waterline that had the extra coats soon had very thick antifouling. I also found that if I just painted over ridges it left a very rough finish.
No one has mentioned it yet but the effect on performance is quite noticeable if the hull is not smooth

Hence the application of coppercoat
Although Coppercoat does not work very well (certainly nowhere as good as the Blakes Ocean Performer) it is still better than the application of paint each year as the paint cost £ 200-00 a time plus involved lots of work
Now I can forget antifoul application & just have the boat lifted & washed mid season for £ 200-00. & the boat has a fairly smooth hull again
So the original cost was a lump to swallow & the ongoing cost is the same as buying more paint, but the effort saved is well worth the cost of the initial application
I also have a Squib keelboat & that has Copper Tec, which is visibly better than Coppercoat, but still needs 4 scrubs a year to keep clean enough to race
 
Since I bought my old Verl 27 I have applied one thickish coat of Cruiser Uno within a week of launch day, with a second coat over the leading edge and around the prop area, any areas where the AF has lifted get painted over before the main coat is applied. Now I think back, yes I do give the boat a bit of a wet sand, using a bucket of water mainly because of having to fight for the use of a tap to run a hose from.
I also buy a small can of boot-top anti-foul which does the boot-top line (no surprise there!) and the remnants get painted onto the prop.
The boat is moored on the Gareloch, and after lift-out and pressure washing by the boatyard the bottom is so clean that I keep getting suggested at (Sorry about the grammar!) to leave the AF for a year. I think I will carry on giving it an annual coat, rather than discover the hard way that two years is too long, as I start chiselling off the reef which would probably take hold!

(NOTE to self - please to be thinking about them there grammaticals next time, this message is so bad I could be mistaken for a modern UK school leaver! My standards are slipping, or is that "wenting slod"?).
 
xyachtdave said:
I wouldn't put self eroding on it Chris, tried that for two years and gave up. Get a hard paint that can stand up to the jet wash. There's a compatibility chart on the International website, you should be able to put something like Micron Extra 2 ... on it after a light wet sand.
Click to expand...

It's worth mentioning that Micron Extra 2 is a self-eroding antifoul!
 
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