Not another anti-fouling post?

[StugeronSteve]

Yep.

Time to pull the wallet out and buy the gooey stuff. A lot of thoughts last year about the efficiency of the various products on offer, but what are you all intending to slap on this time round? Tiger seemed to lose its battle with the Beaulieu eco-system (on Two J's' botty anyway) so I'm thinking of giving Micron or Optima a go.

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[longjohnsilver]

Well I've just bort 5 litres of Jotun Super Tropic for £38, have used it before and it was excellent. Large choice of colours just so long as it's red!

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[StugeronSteve]

Not too sure about the aesthetic of giving the 331 baboon butt! The price looks beautiful though.

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[malcp]

I used Optima last season. Excellent results as far as weed and slime suppression is concerned (boat in Chichester Marina), but applying it was not good IMHO. It's 2 part, the additive needs about 20minutes of stiring before use. Thought it had gone off it was so hard. Used different types of roller, but result was a very stippley finish (almost artex!) which was disappointing. Also it is water based and needs careful attention to the weather during application, both temperature and rain/humidity. Comes off very easily with abrasion, which is fine at the end of the season but not during it. Must be the most expensive on the market.

Previously used Micron. No weeding, but not good against slime. Reasonably robust (for an eroding a/f) against abrasion, and not too bad to apply. Cheaper than Optima.

This year I'm trying Blakes Ocean Performer. Anyone got experience of this?

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[Robin]

Optima

We have used Optima now for the last 5 seasons, marina based in Poole where fouling is a real problem, probably because of shallow water heating up quicker and silt in the water. We previously used Micron but always needed a light sponge/scrub before our main cruise to remove slime which was dropping over half a knot of speed under engine at normal revs (so really affecting light wind sail performance). We were given a 'trial' quantity of Optima after a disastrous weed feeding 3 months with some probably faulty Micron, needing a full pressure wash after 3 months! We used Optima the following season and now for a further 4 seasons and have not even needed a flick with a sponge between mid-March and Mid-November, by liftout in Feb there is some very light slime which if we had used the boat probably would not be there.

Applying Optima is easy enough but you do need dry weather. Being 2 part and waterbased it makes doing the cradle patches difficult so we do these and the keel bottom with Micron in the boatlift (if we are lucky overnight the night before), you cannot use Optima because is waterbased just before launching. Mixing it has always been easy enough, then leave it 10 minutes to stand and reuce air bubbles. We usually use a shorthaired roller (not the tiny ones) but International say use a high density foam roller for preference, we have but see no difference. Any unused but mixed paint can be used (re-constituted) up to 2 weeks after by adding water. The first time we used it we got a lot of surface air bubbles, probably because we over rolled it trying to remove them - if you ignore them 99% vanish on drying leaving a reasonable matt surface finish.

We are currently waiting for the weather to apply this year' Optima and because of the rainy weather we did wonder about Blakes 2 pack solvent based version but the drawback seems to be that once mixed it only remains usable for I think 24hrs, unfortunately one coat for us is not a full number of tins, so there is then the problem of mixing in small amounts. With Optima we use 1.5 tins/coat (3lts total/coat), we mix the entire 2nd tin and then reconstitute the remainder plus another full tin for coat number 2.

Finally we are changing colour this year from black to white. I always felt, but hope I'm wrong that black was better (less light below?) but we need to raise the waterline and to take the black higher would run it into the dark blue hull stripes. I don't want the extra hassle of a separate bootop because our draught makes a ladder essential to apply the tape, doing that twice over doesn't appeal, even if the bootop paints were any good which they aren't in Poole! I know our 'white' antifoul will be light green above the waterline, but that will still be better than the splash zone dark green weed!

Anyone able to comment on the effectiveness of black or dark antifouls versus white, I know in some makes the white version has less or no copper content but with Optima it is supposed to be the same????



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[ParaHandy]

Re: Parrot droppings ...

if it cleans that off ... well ... what further recommendation does a chap need ?!

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[Sans Bateau]

Steve

It might sound a bit obvious, but find out which works best were you keep your boat. Most of the growth occurs when the boat is at rest. We went to Blakes last year, much much better than International. But! that is the one that works best for us in Emsworth, it will not be the same everywere.

That reminds me I better get mine done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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[Mirelle]

My latest theory

Wooden boat, kept on a swinging mooring in a very high fouling area!

Two coats of Blakes Ultra hard racing, white, with a single coat of red Ocean performer. The reasoning is that the hard racing will not erode, and will provide a moderate degree of protection no matter what. It will also provide a worm barrier if our rivers keep on getting warmer. A chat with Blakes at the boat show confirmed what i am sure we all thought anyway - the red colours of a/f have more poison and less pigment than the others. The reason for two colours is so I can see where the eroding stuff is eroding

<hr width=100% size=1>Que scais-je?